Disabled single mum: Council can’t house me and landlords refuse me. Help?!

weepingwillow1

Where do I turn at this point? After exhausting the council with my pleas for help, they say they can’t house me (no homes, plus long waiting list even at priority) and they tell me to look for a privately rent home, so I did, and am being refused as landlords want working tenants.
im a disabled single mum who has moved 10 too many times, I can’t do this any more, I am living in my small lounge with my medical bed, suffocating to be honest with you, I have two young children too. the house is not accessible at all and has two flights of stairs.. the house has been assessed as unusable due to my conditions and I’m mostly in the four walls of my lounge..  just wanting to get on with my life and be happy with my kids, for once, a stable home PLEASE make this my last move, I’m praying, please let a miracle happen and I find a home, somewhere I can stay put. 

On top of all this my landlord wants me out in 3 months as he needs to sell the home. But if I get a written notice from him, all the council will do is put into a shared hostel accommodation with my kids, waiting there for (and I quote) “a year at best”.. Which is just not an option with my conditions, plus my kids, it would not be workable at all!

At this point I’m just looking for guidance on my options, rights, and if any readers can signpost me to somewhere helpful, that’s a bonus, thanks in advance. 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @weepingwillow1

Welcome to the community, good to see you join us. 

It sounds as though things are quite tricky for you at the moment and I'm sorry to hear that. 

How are your children coping at the minute? This situation must be having an impact on them too, but I hope they are doing okay. DO you and your family have any support from other loved ones or friends at this time? 

I'm not sure how high you are on the priority list with the local council, but if you were to have a social care needs assessment this may help your chances of getting higher up the priority list. Is that something you've ever considered?

You could also look at getting a letter from your GP or health professional that explains why your current place isn't suitable for you and why it's essential that you find somewhere more appropriate for you and your children.

Furthermore, , you could try contacting Citizens Advice or Shelter to see if they can support in any way.

This appears to have impacted your well-being quite a bit, can I ask if you've ever received any support for your mental health as you appear to be quite low at the moment, understandably?

Take care

littleacorn

I am not an expert on housing but think as your landlord has given you a time to leave the home you will be technically classed as homeless. Shelter might be able to give you some independent advice. Your GP and maybe if your children are of school age their teacher might be able to offer a supporting letters which you can give to the council. 

MadeInTheUK

The only way the council will house you is if you allow your landlord to evict you and become homeless. I know it’s scary and you don’t want to put your kids through the nightmare of temporary accommodation, but honestly it will be worth it in the long run. They are using scare tactics when they tell you it could be up to a year, they want you to find your own housing as social housing is under huge pressure and there are just not anywhere near enough houses for the demand. The only people who will actually get a council house/social housing are those who are homeless and with children. The priority works on a points system and unless you are made homeless, through no fault of your own, and placed in temporary accommodation, then you will not stand a chance. I have been homeless in your situation before and was terrified to put my son through temporary accommodation so I finally found a horrible little flat that would take housing benefit and sold pretty much everything I had to raise the deposit. That was 10 years ago and it was the biggest mistake of my life, I wish so much I had been brave enough to go through the system because I would be now in a secure home, paying affordable rent and not renting privately and having to find hundreds of pounds each month to make up the difference from my housing benefit to my rent. 

You need to make sure you don’t have any rent arrears or caused any nuisance as the council will deem you as ‘making yourself purposely homeless’ and they do not have to help you in those circumstances. 

You have to be really strong here and go through the system. Don’t be scared, it will be worth it in the long run I promise. 

poppy123456

MadeInTheUK said:

The only way the council will house you is if you allow your landlord to evict you and become homeless.

That's an extremely scary route to take. I was about to made homeless many years ago when my children were still very small and it was through no fault of my own. I won't go into details here because it's too personal.

It was the scariest time of my entire life because i knew if i didn't find somewhere i would be in temporary housing which could mean anywhere, even hostels. Thankfully i did manage to find somewhere to live but i would never ever make myself intentionally homeless.

MadeInTheUK

yes it was terrifying for me too, I couldn’t do it like I said, but to get any chance of a council house or affordable housing these days it’s the only way to get priority. This government has a lot to answer for. 

chiarieds

Some advice from Shelter, etc.  https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/how_to_find_landlords_who_accept_benefits

http://www.benefithousing.co.uk/

http://www.dssmove.co.uk/

http://www.dssaccepted.co.uk/

https://movingsoon.co.uk/list-of-dss-accepted-landlords/

https://movingsoon.co.uk/dss-accepted/

https://www.makeurmove.co.uk/page/dss-property-list

https://www.dsspropertiestorent.com/