UPDATE: now in temporary accomodation!

[Dragonfly Fi]

Our plan, before the new bump, was to take over another bedroom in our 3 bedroom shared house, so we had 2 bedrooms and 1 lodger. Now that i am pregnant it looks like we wont be able to afford that and frankly, why would we, its 650 just for the rent and then bills on top AND we would have to share our house with someone else.

The landlord has since given us our marching orders, we currently live, the three of us, in a double room in a shared house and we have a notice to evict. We earn less than minimum wage because Liam is on an apprenticeship scheme and he gets a lift to work from our home town every day...

I am hoping they see us as high priority... we are cramped to say the least and need to find affordable housing before September at the latest...

has anyone got any experience of council housing banding schemes? Thats what they do round here which is, i suppose, a-lot more reasonable than moving people into homes they really dont want to be in! So you get a banding and then you bid for houses

we could do with a 2 bedroomed house but ALL the two bedroomed properties seem to be ear-marked for the elderly and disabled!! Which is so annoying!

 

[vixforever]

Hmmm to be fair. Down here the council would tell you to go private. How long do you have until you need to leave your current property? They say a child can share with you up until 5 down here and a 'baby' isnt classed as an extra person until 1 year down here either so down here they could put all 4 of you in one bedroom

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

there is just no way we would find a private rental in salisbury that would allow us to put 4 people in one room! Who would allow that?

anyway we cannot afford to go private, a 1 bed flat would be fine we would manage for a while but i reckon we will be eligable for a 2 bed at least!

 

[ZMD]

Up here in norfolk a baby isn't classed as a person until there 1 But they wont put u in a house which you'll then overcrowd, does that make sense?! we got moved into a 2 bed a month before i had LO we were privately renting before then & Our landlord put the house on the market to start with the council put us in band 3 and we kept bidding on houses But had no chance, once the flat had sold we got put into band 1 and got the 3rd house we bid on xx

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

Jasper will be 1 next month, so the baby being under 1 thing is a bit of a moot point, regardless of the new baby which is due in December and i ASSUME they will accept as existing, even if it doesnt qualify us for overcrowding purposes, we will still be 3 people living in a single room. And we have been evicted, we need to leave on or before the 31st of August.

I imagine they will put us up in a 2 or a 3 bed house, simply because they have more 2/3 bed properties in Wiltshire than they do any other type of property.

My friends are living in a 2 bed flat 9 miles away and have just been placed up to Gold + on the housing list because she said that her psychological problems were such that she needed to be closer to her family. Gold + is one step down from the highest banding you can get.

There are a number of 3 bed properties that specify that if you have more than 2 children you need not apply, probably some agreement the housing association has made in order to not overcrowd certain residencies or put pressure on local schools.

I cannot imagine, that if two people i know with one child of 18mnths, can get placed second in the list of importance on the housing register, that myself, my husband and our child facing eviction and living in a single room whilst pregnant, will not be placed somewhere similar.

As soon as we are evicted we will be placed in Platinum anyway, i was just hoping that we could get things sorted by then!

 

[lanny]

My sister works but like you can't afford to private rent, she is due september and has been
Moved to the top band as she told them her mil wants them out thats where she is living at the moment, they have rung and spoke to her mil and she has told them the same thing so now she is in the top
Band. There was a one bed flat going and they wouldn't even let her view it as they said wants the baby is here it will only mean moving her again so said just bid on 2 beds

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

It does help i think, to have the eviction order...

I am going to speak to my midwife and GP about my anxiety because i am so stressed here with this house full of people and no room to breathe... I am also scared we will be homeless and its driving me mad a bit, i think the Doc's and the Midwife (and possibly my consultant also) will back me up in saying its important for this pregnancy to run smoothly and therefore i should be moved quickly rather than left til the last minute and placed in some dive...

heres hoping!

 

[songbird]

when i was evicted from my flat i had a 4 year old and the council did not have any properties to offer us so they put me on the rent deposit scheme which is where they find a private landlord the council then pay the deposit and housing benefit covers the rent. This was the only way to get a place as there were no 2 bed places available. If they had not found me anywhere in time for my eviction they said they would have put me up in a b&b till they could find a place. Each area is different and i hope you get what you need hun it must be so hard worrying about all this while being pregnant

Im now going back on the list as my HV does not think the flat is big enough for us all but it could take months/years

 

[leanne1b]

U will be classed as needing 2 bed. Definitely not 3. I know areas have different regs, but I have 1 dbl, 1 single, two children of opposite sex, and we will nt e classed as overcrowded until my daughter is 10, and even then, well only e overcrowded by 1 rm, and they don't look at overcrowding unless u need at least 2 more rooms.
But yeah, basically, they will say u need a 2 bed, but u will be quite high up... But only when you actually are homeless in my experience.
I get what u mean about the stress, I just think u r being quite optimistic so don't get ur hopes too high on the medical grounds as if it doesn't happen that will just stress u ou more
Xx

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

I would be fine with a 2 bedroom, by the time the kiddles will need a room of their own, we plan to buy our own place somewhere anyway - it really is just until Liam qualifies and we can save up a deposit to get our own place, Probably somewhere rundown in the country with a big garden that we can do up!

The reason i say we might get a three bed, is because there are more three beds round here than there are two, also alot of the three beds say 'families with no more than 2 children need apply' which suggests they don't want the houses to be overcrowded at all.

The thing i am really worried about as far as having to move into temp accomodation before we find a more perminent place, is what are we going to do with all our furniture? We cant afford to pay for storage and i can't exactly leave it here... Plus it will be twice the cost of hiring a van to get it shifted...

I will have to see what band they put us in, if its not Gold + i am going to go the Midwife/GP route to get us bumped up a bit... i am at high risk this pregnancy and i need to be able to get good sleep etc which i cant at the moment because Jasper is in the bed with us and its a nightmare! Liam is sleeping on the sofa most nights, its just a pain right now.

If there are any hurdles i will do my best to get over them.... Not going to stop me doing my best in the meantime though

 

[leanne1b]

In terms of furniture, I didn't have that issue, but my neighbour did, if I remember right I think she got a grant or crisis loan to pay for storage in the short term.
If they put u in temp accommodation, it should be for very very short term, because children aren't meant to be in them anymore except for where they really have no choice.
About the 3 bed thing, I completely get what ur saying, but like someone else put, if there are no two beds, they would put u in private and pay it. Well, this is in London and I know were more overcrowded than most, but that's generally what happens.
I'd ask the mw/gp to do it straight away, don't wait, because it normally takes 3-6 weeks for them to medically assess. If u want that to help, u really need to get them to go to town with what they say. Again, this Is just my experience, but we have a lot of damp/mould. I asked gp to support us trying to move. The council acknowledged my son in particular would benefit living somewhere else... But were not even being placed in any band. And this is with a boy who is constantly on inhalers, turns blue regularly, and has been hospitalised on oxygen for 4 days. It sucks!
Xx

 

[pinkymum]

Just popping in. I had to move into a temp flat before I got this house, landlord had to sell my flat. The council put my furniture in storage for me

 

[Pudds86]

U will be classed as needing 2 bed. Definitely not 3. I know areas have different regs, but I have 1 dbl, 1 single, two children of opposite sex, and we will nt e classed as overcrowded until my daughter is 10, and even then, well only e overcrowded by 1 rm, and they don't look at overcrowding unless u need at least 2 more rooms.
But yeah, basically, they will say u need a 2 bed, but u will be quite high up... But only when you actually are homeless in my experience.
I get what u mean about the stress, I just think u r being quite optimistic so don't get ur hopes too high on the medical grounds as if it doesn't happen that will just stress u ou more
Xx

We have been given a 3 bed and its just us and Campbell. I think it depends on the area. We got points for overcrowding in our flat. We were renting provately previously and werent homeless. We got a house within 3 weeks xx

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

thats comforting puddle thanks! We 'should' get points for overcrowding and if not we get points because we are living in a shared house rather than on our own so we have to share our bathroom and kitchen and living spaces with two lads...

From the critera they gave, i was eligible for 2 silver 'points' and one gold 'point' - it also said that 2 silvers = a gold and two golds = a gold+ which is the best you can get unless you are homeless, totally crazy or an ex-con.

If i am not in gold+ then the midwife and GP letters i will be sending in will definitely help! I am in Wiltshire, which is probably similar to Hampshire

 

[HeppiBean]

From what you've said, around here you would be put in band 2 for 2 bed property... Band 2 applicants usually take between 6-10 months to find a place... BUT... You could end up as band 1 cause of your eviction notice... But still could be up to 6 months or more before you get somewhere :/ x

 

[FebMum2Be]

Not sure how it works over thee BigBump but hope they get you somewhere soon x

 

[leanne1b]

I can't remember who it was who replied to my post! Lol dam phone. But really?!
Jesus I need to leave London! We get bumped here!
The top band in my borough is now only or people who are ex-con etc, or people who are wheel chair bound, and living in an unacceptable property.
Even band 2 is only if u work or volunteer in the borough, and are overcrowded by at least 2 bedrooms... So if have to have at least another 2 children before they would even consider it... So there would be 6 of us in a double and a single... Hmm lol.
That's true bump, sharing facilities will def go in ur favour
Xx

 

[AugustMum]

I know this is going to sound a bit harsh, but even if you are in the top band, I wouldn't pin your hopes on a council house. There is such a shortage for properties at the moment that there just aren't enough to go around and like Bean said, you could still be waiting up to 6 months for a place.

I havent even bothered as I tried to apply last year but because they don't count Paige as a person yet :/ Im barely entitled to a studio flat and that was with me, my sister, my parents and my gran, and of course Paige, registered as living in my parents 3 bed house. I came off the list and just found a private rent but now thats put me in such a bad way with money, and the prospect of a rent increase that Im talking about moving back in with my parents. Ah the joys of housing.

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

But there isn't a massive shortage of council housing in my area, There are in some places but not directly in Salisbury. They HAVE to house us we have no where to live, I know people on their own with 1 kid who are in 2/3 bed properties because they are what they have the most of.

 

[Pudds86]

There isnt a shortage here either. They are building lots of new estates so it really does depend on where you live! Phone your council and find out what the situation is. There is no point us telling you our situations because every council runs differently. EG mine has 5 bands, you are allocated 10 points for each category like overcrowding, unsuitable accomodation, sofa surfing, connection to the area. Most people here get housed out of band 3. We signed up and were 'won' 2 houses in 3 weeks xxxx