Advice needed on getting a council house swap ASAP for disabled mum.

BONGOLOID77

I have been trying to sort out a homeswap for my mother and I for 2
years. Since covid things have ground to a halt, and the places we
wanted to go to are places people now do not want to move from,

We have already looked at the Countryside scheme, and the homes on
offer are not adequate for someone in my mother's condition.

The people next door are selling their house, and it is going
to be Hell on earth with the looming building noise, I am very
concerned about the noise levels that are going to be happening, as
this street is one big development, anyway. The house refurbs and
basement jobs here go on for over a year in some cases.They dig down
to the earths core with some of these basement conversions and they
strip the entire house down to its foundations. I know this for a fact
as it the norm for new homeowners buying places in our street. I spoke
to the new owner, and he said that they are not moving in until next
JUNE. That means work until then.

My mother wouldn't be able to cope with that kind of relentless daily
noise in her condition, even for a few days ... She could die, and I
am NOT joking when I say that. She has multiple degenerative -
progressive conditions and has cervical spondylosis as well. That
alone causes severe migraines, and any kind of noise feels amplified
100 fold. She literally winces when I speak to loudly. She is weak,
fragile, very very fragile. There MUST be something the council can do
to help move us from here, please?

We are in a desperate situation and need advice and help with this. We
literally have a matter of 3 months before this kicks off. Surely she
must have some standing or help available in this situation? Can't the
council move us to another property?


The other issue is that I have been caring for her for 11 years now,
and have been here 60 plus hrs PW all that time giving her full-on -
round the clock care, and have nothing to show for it but debt and
stress. I have been saving LBHF HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds in
full-time care and get nothing but kicked in the teeth with the
insulting carers allowance. Isn't there any rights for carers in my
circumstance to be moved with Mum to a 2 bedroom property? I have been
living here since 2014, as I can't afford to run my on home as I am
here caring for her most of the time. I have been sleeping on the
floor in the front room. Don't we have any rights with that? I am on
record with the council since 2011 doing this, as I get an annual
personal budget, and must be assessed each time for it. So you have an
annual record of my work as carer for mum. It does not seem remotely
fair that someone who has given up everything and devoted his life to
caring for his own mother should be treated this way.

Where we go must be ground floor, as mum is disabled and cannot do any
stairs, and the garden is pretty much the only outdoor time she ever
gets.

Can anyone let us know who we should be onto about our options with what
I have just stated, please?

Cher_Alumni

Hi @BONGOLOID77 How are you today?

I'm sorry to hear about your mum's housing situation.  I can imagine it's causing you some worry, have you had a carer's assessment carried out recently?

In terms of the house swap, you would need a full assessment from an Occupational Therapist and Social Services and letters from your GP and other involved medical professionals to support your request.  Have these been mentioned before, or have you already submitted them to your council?  Unfortunately, a swap would be hard to measure in terms of timescales but the sooner you have that supporting evidence, the better for progressing the transfer.  

Also, Shelter are great to speak to about all things housing so I'd highly recommend contacting them for more specialised advice.  You can do this via Shelter's 'Get help from Shelter' webpage. 

Please let us know how you get on and sending you and your mum all the best wishes.

BONGOLOID77

Thanks for your responce.

Yes, I have a full GP letter backing everything up and Mum has been registered with an OT since 2011 at the council, and I get assessed annually by Carers Network so I can get a personal budget.