Housing asking for more evidence

JLT005

My son is 10, autistic, no danger awareness ect. We are currently living in a 4th floor flat with 2 balconies and no windows in the living room/ kitchen. We can no longer have the balcony doors open in the summer as my son tries to climb over.

I have applied to my housing association to be moved to a more suitable property. I have a letter from GP and from the paediatrician who diagnosed my son, explaining that he has no danger awareness and the currently property is not safe for him. I also have an OT report stating the same and that no adaptions can be made to make it safer therefore a different property is required. I have sent the diagnosis report and disabled parking blue badge.

Our housing application for a medical move has been rejected and they have said I could send more evidence and try again but they won't tell me what new evidence they want. Last year they only wanted an OT report which I finally got now they want more.

What other evidence could I send to get approved?

poppy123456

What reason have they given for refusal?

JLT005

I don't need extra space for medical equipment and don't meet the threshold for rehousing.

Last year when I first applied they said I just needed an OT report to state it was unsafe and no adaptions can be made, which I now have now they have given different reasons.

Mary_Scope

Hi @JLT005

This sounds like a very stressful situation, especially as you have now provided the evidence that they originally asked for!

Do you have any reports or documents from your sons school mentioning your sons danger awareness? Or any evidence from the school of the support that they have had to put in place to prevent dangerous situations, particularly around climbing?

Do you have any incident reports where your sons danger awareness have led to dangerous situations? This could be hospital records, school reports or even letters from friends or family that have seen your sons behavior and can back up what you are you saying.

I know you mentioned you have reports from GP and peaditrician but do you have any other reports from other professionals that mention your sons danger awareness? Maybe an educational psychologist or speech and language therapist etc?

It may also be helpful to give evidence of any attempts or adjustments you have had to make to your house to make it safer for your son. For example maybe you have had to buy certain locks or move furniture around so your son isn't able to climb up it and risk jumping out the windows etc.

I hope this was helpful, please reach out if you need further support or have more questions!

JLT005

He is now home educated as he has lots of issues with school, the last 3 years the school refused to believe anything was wrong with him, kept telling me he was doing it for attention and refused to refer for an assessment. Even when I had given them the diagnosis report they still said there is nothing wrong with him, couldn't give him any extra support because " he's fine once he's in school, there's nothing wrong with him" even though it was very clear he was struggling with alot.

I only have a letter from GP explaining how he lashed out at an appointment and tried to destroy the room where she then had to help me get him to the car as he tried to run.

I don't have any other documents unfortunately.I have emailed my housing association 3 times in the past 3 weeks asking what other evidence I could send so I could contact the right people but they are just ignoring me now which is why I came to this page.

Thank you for your help

poppy123456

Are you currently living is a social housing property? If so have you looked into exchanging with someone?

I’ve no other advice to add that Mary hasn’t already given.

JLT005

I have been looking for the past 4 years but because my rent is ridiculously high no one wants to exchange

poppy123456

That’s very unusual for social housing rent to be high. Usually private rentals are much higher.

worried33

I had support from GP, Occupational therapist, then a 2nd Occupation therapist who assessed me for the application, and a community nurse when I applied for social housing.

Claim was rejected without a reason given, I then tried to appeal, was told appeal was rejected because council was in a housing crisis, and will only accept applications for housing register if homeless or life is under threat.

Some areas have such extreme shortages, they resorting to extremes to keep their housing demand down.

Although in your case, you already have a social property, so it seems more harsh, because if you move your property is available to someone else.