Homelessness looming

RubyTuesday62

Hello all. 
Can anyone help/advise? 
I suffer with  Complex PTSD, Depression and Generalised Anxiety. 
I have struggled to sustain employment due to' flare ups' of these conditions .
I have a mortgage on a small flat and have struggled to pay repayment's due to deterioration in my mental health and have to reduce my work hours to 16, from last year.
I now am out of work, as my contract was not renewed,  as a learning support assistant at a college. 
I have just begun to receive Employment And Support Allowance of £73.00 per week. This is my only income, hence can not pay anything to my mortgage company. 
I am about to put my home up for sale,  as feel I have no choice.  
I am on Contribution's  based ESA .
 * My question is: will I be entitled to council housing ? 

* Also, can they reposess before I sell it, due to nil payment? 

Would really appreciate your feedback guys. 

Xxx

RubyTuesday62

Hello all. 
Can anyone help/advise? 
I suffer with  Complex PTSD, Depression and Generalised Anxiety. 
I have struggled to sustain employment due to' flare ups' of these conditions .
I have a mortgage on a small flat and have struggled to pay repayment's due to deterioration in my mental health and have to reduce my work hours to 16, from last year.
I now am out of work, as my contract was not renewed,  as a learning support assistant at a college. 
I have just begun to receive Employment And Support Allowance of £73.00 per week. This is my only income, hence can not pay anything to my mortgage company. 
I am about to put my home up for sale,  as feel I have no choice.  
I am on Contribution's  based ESA .
 * My question is: will I be entitled to council housing ? 

* Also, can they reposess before I sell it, due to nil payment? 

Would really appreciate your feedback guys. 

Xxx

EmmaB

Hi @RubyTuesday62

It sounds like you are in a difficult situation and it frustrates me because you have clearly been trying to do your best by getting your flat and working but I suspect with little support on the mental health front.... and that's a lot to manage on your own if you have cPTSD.

Have you thought about applying for PIP, you might not need it forever but it might help get you through this patch until you get yourself back on your own feet again?  Your CAB can advise you on applying if you need more information.

As you have complex PTSD you could ask your GP to refer you for some proper trauma focused therapy e.g. EMDR, if they've never heard of it find a GP who has or get them to look it up as they should know about it [but many don't] - it is recognised by NICE [National Institute for Clinical Excellence] as a treatment option for trauma/cPTSD and it could really help.

I hope you can get through this, remember "this too will pass"... you sound like a strong person in that you have already managed to get yourself into a positive place it's just a question of finding your way back there.

Good luck.

Emma

EmmaB

PS the CAB should also be able to advise you on your financial / housing situation and it might even be worth calling your mortgage company or asking them to help you do that if you feel that's difficult?  Worth a try....

debbiedo49

You may qualify for support with mortgage interest from dwp. Best wishes

Sam_Alumni

Hi @RubyTuesday62
I have asked the @BenefitsTrainingCo to take a look at your post to see if they can help.

@Debbie_Scope or@Jean_Scope can you help at all?

It might be helpful for you to speak to Shelter - you can contact them here.

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @RubyTuesday62 and a very warm welcome to the community. I am really sorry to hear about the situation that you are in. Here is the eligibility for council housing. It may also be worth contacting Shelter in general to see what support they can offer you. I hope you manage to get things sorted, please do keep us updated.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @RubyTuesday62

I'm afraid there is little i can suggest at the moment other than to complete a benefits check using the Scope calculator here. There may be other entitlements but you should particularly consider Personal Independence Payment if your daily life and/or mobility is affected by your health condition.

There is a system of support for mortgage interest which you may be able to claim whilst you are not able to work. It's a loan now and nowhere near the sort of help we would like to be available but you can find out more about it here. Even though you get contributory ESA rather than income related ESA or Universal Credit (UC) you should still qualify because your income is exactly the same (and not more) than the amount you would get in income related ESA or UC. This means you are treated as entitled to income related ESA even though you don't actually get it. If you have difficulty persuading the DWP of this you should refer them to the meaning of "qualifying period" in regulation 2(i) of The Loans for Mortgage Interest Regulations 2017 here.

As others have said i think you should also contact Shelter for housing advice.

Best wishes

David

poppy123456

The only problem with SMI is you have to be claiming a qualifying benefit for 39 weeks before you're eligible and as RubyTuesday has only just started claiming ESA she won't be eligible.

poppy123456

You have to be claiming a qualifying benefit for at least 39 weeks to be able to claiming this and Ruby has only just started to claim ESA.