Should the council help this person

[dan_dan999]

I know of somebody who has recently moved in to temporary housing and has not long left on the waiting list until there offered a permanent council house.
This person is seperated from their partner and has been attending court hearings about the forth coming divorce, but still the finicial side of things has yet to be disclosed.
This person is also in no means short of money and I feel it is very un-fair to put themselves forward for housing until all assets have been fairly divided from the divorce. Is this normal procedure from the council? Should they help this person so soon without knowing the full out comming's of the divorce?

[bednobs]

i don't know who the person is, but i'm not sure they are telling you the truth. if they have only recently moved into temporary accomm, it's very unlikely they are soon going to be offered permanent council housing. Also, how do they know this - even if they are very high priority on the list, hoow does anyone know when a house is going to come up, even the council? In my experience (not huge mind you) single people are low priority

[jb190281]

gotta agree with bednobs, it doesn't sound like the full story. I know our council allocations policy would reduce someones priority if they had assets/means to resolve their own housing situation.

bednobs, hope you're well my love xx

[dan_dan999]

Sorry my information was a bit vague. This person has got two children and moved into temporary housing around 12weeks ago.
The way the council house people over here has changed in the last year. Now you have a more of a choice of where you want to live, you no longer get given a random property.
You also get ranked in bands due to your priority need, bands A-E. A being highest E being very little need for housing. Currently this person is band b. very high need and is ranking in the top 5 for housing out of roughly 100 applicants.
In the next few weeks she could be housed, if the right property for her becomes avaliable.
I know all of this through a friend. I just dont think its right and just wanted to hear other opinions and see if this is how the council manages things.

Thanks for your responses.

[dan_dan999]

also houses come up in a locata magazine every 2 weeks for housing/transfer applicants to bid on.

[dan_dan999]

Right I have to come clean, there is no friend who I have heard this information from. I am the friend who she tells this to. I feel terrible. I feel like Im betraying this person.
I witness lifestyle she lives and she clearly has access to money. I just think its very un-fair on people who are in need for these houses, when in a few months time she could maybe get accepted for a mortgage after the divorce is finalised.
I have a lot of information of the circumstances as she has showed me emails and documents that she has used to correspond with the council.

[looby1914]

If your not happy with the circumstances then id maybe ring the local housing and speak to someone about it.. I was on the housing list from the age of 16-25... Was put on High priority for housing year ago may due to my ex partner and us being in danger etc... I only got a property this april.

It depends on the different areas.. different housing has variations of who they count as "high priority"

[Goodsoulette]

I dont think how wealthy you are comes into it. It ,may seem like she has lots and lots of dosh but how do you know that? Maybe her outgoings at the moment are just very little because she doesnt run her own house. Maybe she is glamourising how much she will get after the divorce. Mayube she is secretly living off credit cards in the meantime? Social housing is there for all, if you want everyone who needs it to be living below the poverty line then that's surely a different question. To rent my house privately, I had to come up with £3500 for deposits, landlords checks etc how many people really do have access to that straight away and thats a 3 bed house in Somerset, ex local authority, nice enough area but its not a palace.

[hc4361]

Strange sort of friend you are. You sound jealous and vengeful of somebody in a horrible situation.

[dan_dan999]

I clearly see why you say 'some friend i am' i feel that way to, but we have only met really 6months ago, this is not my lifelong best friend.
Also I understand you say she could be living off of credit, your right, at the moment she could be.
What I cant get out of my head is if the money side of things havent been decided yet, how can the council house her in much needed council property when she 'might' come in to money. Why not wait until the divorce is finalised.

As I said this isnt silly money, she was wanting to get enough to buy a new house.
You can question my friendship all you like, but my question on here wasnt;
' do you think im a bad person and should stay friends with this person'.
I wanted genuwine answers about council policies.

[hc4361]

The councils duty is to house the children. She may be telling you lies, there may be no equity in the home she was living in. Her partner may have been violent to her or the children. They may be bankrupt.

[bednobs]

if she gets enough money to buy a house, then she will give up a council house, surely?

[dan_dan999]

I really dont know how the system works, but I know councils dont house people just because of children but they do pay a big part of it.
You have to have no other options, ie; privately renting, which she could have done but has choosen this route as it gives her security this is what she told me. (basically meaning the place will be as good as heres)
Then when the divorce is setteled, I very much doubt she will give the property up.
She will probably just have to pay rent on it which would be about £450 pm.

Surely the council should wait and see what happenss in a few months and then say actually you dont need this property you can go and rent/buy something yourself or yes we can offer you a place. It doesnt add up to me.

[bednobs]

sorry, but if you had enough money to buy a house, in the area YOU choose, the house you chose, why wouldn't you?

[bednobs]

anyway, it's all acedemic - you ask if the council should help her, and by your account they are, so there is nothing anyone can do about it

[dan_dan999]

I dont think shes prepared to wait until the divorce is finalised. Just annoying because there are genuwine people out there who need the help.

[bednobs]

she is genuine now though. The council can't make decisions on things that "might" happen in the future

[dan_dan999]

Yeah suppose your right in that respect.

[sandyRoe]

Here's a homeless family, a mother and two children. There may be no money coming to her after her divorce. Who knows?
The council have a duty to help them, and they have.
Why shouldn't they help her?

[lotsafun]

i agree with sandy. AS far it states that she is homeless with 2 kids, she needs to be rehomed asap simple as that. Divorce can take months in some cases is it healthy for a family to live in atemp accommadation till then? no. kids need stabilty and therefore need a perminant residence