Need to be reassessed for housing by council

Aphrodite_Persephone

After a car accident I have fibromyalgia, chronic pain, multiple muscle and joint pains, torn ligaments in my knees, lower back and feet. I had an OT assessment who said I need a ground floor property as I'm upstairs and my building has no lift. So after the OT assessment last year my local council have placed me into band B.

However since the assessment, my mobility has declined rapidly. I'm housebound as I can't manage the communal stairs at all, very limited in walking and difficult to walk around my flat, I sleep in the livingroom as my bedroom is far away, I'm constantly falling when I do walk, also still in constant pain and suffer with depression. My GP wrote a letter that I need to be moved urgently but the council just said band B is a high enough band for my medical needs. Is there anything I can do for them to reassesse me as I really should be in band A because my accommodation is having a negative effect on me.
I'm also a single parent so I'd need 2 bedrooms.

Any help is appreciated. 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @Aphrodite_Persephone

Welcome to the community, it's nice to see you join us. This is a very supportive place, so please feel free to have a look around and get involved wherever you'd like.

Sorry to hear about the challenges you have faced, and that you weren't put into a higher band first time around. It's good that your GP has been supportive enough to write you a letter.

Have you enquired about the possibility of getting another OT assessment in the hope that it would result in you moving up the bands given your decline in mobility? And do you have any kind of care or support in place at the moment to manage with daily tasks?

You mentioned having depression in your post, and that this situation is having a negative impact on you. I just wanted to check if you receive any support from your GP to manage your mental health? Are they aware that it is something you struggle with?

Also, you said that you are a single parent, so I do hope that your child / children are coping okay at the moment.

janer1967

Hi there 

I know all councils are different but for mine you have to be homeless or under notice of eviction to be in band a 

Aphrodite_Persephone

@Ross_Scope thank you for replying. I'm extremely lucky with my GP, he's been really supportive. I think I will call my OT tomorrow to ask if they can do another assessment as you suggested. I have carers that come daily and its taken a lot of pressure off my son as he was looking after me for a few months after the car accident 

Aphrodite_Persephone

@janer1967 thank you for replying. I did check the allocations for housing bands with my council and band A is for emergency such as home to be demolished, fear of violence and if the current accommodation is having an adverse effect on your health. I fall into the last category but I was still rejected. 

Problem is even though I'm in band B and I bid for anything ground floor my feedback comes back as "not prioritised" which I later found out is because I can only bid for priorities for disabled people, which they never made me aware of. The closest I got was number 6 on a house which was already adapted for disabilities. For now all I can keep doing is bidding

janer1967

That's all you can do I had to wait a year to get something suitable eg bungalow and by then I had sold my house as I couldn't get out of the house or use the stairs and as I could no longer work had to sell as I couldn't pay the mortgage and was about to be homeless 

Unfortunately there is a shortage of suitable accommodation for disabled people and a shortage of social housing in general 

Aphrodite_Persephone

@janer1967 I'm sorry to hear that but at least you was able to be rehoused somewhere suitable. It's a real shame that there are hardly any properties for disabled people. They need to start building them!

calcotti

Aphrodite_Persephone said: They need to start building them!

Before that happens the people of this country will need to vote in a government of a different political outlook.

Aphrodite_Persephone

calcotti said:

Aphrodite_Persephone said: They need to start building them!

Before that happens the people of this country will need to vote in a government of a different political outlook.

Very true