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emergency housing

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Home, Law & Money
My brother is married with one baby boy, he lives with his wifes family who has sold their home to move abroad, hes on a low paid job and cant really afford private renting.

They live in a crowded, multi cultural borough and i know if he gets emergency accommodation by form of a hostel or something while waiting for a council property hell wait ages.

If i moved him in with me for a month could he then apply to my local borough as hes living here?

Or do you have to be somewhere for a certain amount of time, it will be very crowded but ill do it if it helps?

cheers :thumb:

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    **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Hey seaweed,
    I'm not entirely sure if your brother could apply to your borough, but there are people who should be able to help. :)

    You could try Shelter's free housing advice helpline on 0808 800 4444

    Or alternatively write to our housing advisors on askTheSite.

    Other people may here may have experiences that can help too. :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    He may be allowed to apply on family connections grounds. Tell him to give shelter or the council a call.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im pretty sure if you bro rents privately he can get housing benifit if on low income?

    I think?

    that might make it affordable for him. :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Shelter are awesome, so I would definitely recomend he ask their advice. To qualify for council emergency accomodation you have to have either lived somewhere for a certain amount of time (can't remember off the top of my head sorry!) Be vulnerable (so disability, children or dependants), local connection, a job in the area or family, or be presently living in inappropriate accomodation. I would guess from your description, your brother may well fit into some of those categories. There's no guarantees they will help, but I would guess they most likely will at least decide his case should be reviewed. In terms of eventually gaining permanent council accomodation, this could well take a long time, it all depends on how high priority they consider him to be and how in demand council accomodation is in your area. As has already been mentioned, he should certainly consider applying for housing benefit (I think if you're over 21 they pay £65pw to subsidise private renting). It can take a while for the first payment to come through, so I would suggest he considers doing this asap if it's going to be helpful to him.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bettyboo wrote: »
    im pretty sure if you bro rents privately he can get housing benifit if on low income?

    Yes you can BUT the problem is

    1. Getting the deposit and a months rent in advance.

    2. A lot of landlords don't like benefit tennants because we're all scag heads who rip the place to pieces :rolleyes:

    3. It can take a considerable length of time to get your claim sorted, all the while the rent needs paying. (It took Birmingham council 8 months to get my claim sorted)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin
    Quote:

    Yes you can BUT the problem is

    1. Getting the deposit and a months rent in advance.

    2. A lot of landlords don't like benefit tennants because we're all scag heads who rip the place to pieces

    3. It can take a considerable length of time to get your claim sorted, all the while the rent needs paying. (It took Birmingham council 8 months to get my claim sorted)


    Am i not right in thinking that the landlord wouldnt have to know???, as the benefit is paid into tenants account, so, if you can pay the rent until the council start paying your benefit you should be ok?


    flibbertygibbert - are you sure 65pw, i thought they worked it out on assessing how much you need to live on against your wages minus the rent?:confused:


    :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bettyboo wrote: »
    Am i not right in thinking that the landlord wouldnt have to know???, as the benefit is paid into tenants account, so, if you can pay the rent until the council start paying your benefit you should be ok?


    That's very true, but if you go through an agency they'll require a credit check, usually, and if you go through a landlord they often require some proof of income.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hi seaweed, i was in the same sort of situation about 7 years ago. my brother and his girlfriend + 2 kids. They were renting private,landlord sold the house gave them 2 months notice.He went to council and was told he could go into a homeless unit and then he would have to wait. They moved in with my family which meant that there were 4 adults + 6 kids in our 3 bed house. Long n short is, we were then classed as over crowded , every day he phoned the council to see if there was anything available. 7 weeks after he moved in, they were moving out in to their new home.:)
    Not saying it helps , you got to phone council everyday, soon they will recoginise your voice , get fed up ....but when that property comes up they will hear your voice asking that same question
    good luck
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    worriedkaz - really? :(

    i spent over a year and a half in a homeless hostel when i was 16/17 with my dad and two brothers as we were told that was the quickest way of getting housed. we only got a house within that time too because my brother fell into severe depression (he tried to kill himself) and my dad became ill with sciatica and couldn't walk and the fact he was sleeping on a sofa was making it worse. we were in a overcrowded hostel too. one bedroom between the four of us :( my dad slept on the sofa, i shared the smallest room ever with my little brother and my other brother slept in a very narrow corridoor.

    ours was based on points and we got points for like being classed as homeless, my dad's health, my brother's health, the fact we were living in overcrowded conditions and errr, some other things that i cannot remember. no amount of pestering we did got us a house :( like i said, it took a year and a half (i was in college studying my a levels too :()

    the system is just shit tbh.
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