68,000 homeless in Britain, and it's going to get worse

[Bob Arctor]

Start by getting a full time job maybe?

 

Even on the absolute lowest levels of minimum wage for under 18s a full time job is equivilent is more than that a month. For the majority of working adults its more than double that a month.

 

If she really MUST work part time hours then take step two. Rent somewhere cheaper. Just a quick search on one property site gives 500+ places to live below £400 a month in that so called profiteering, scummy private sector. Maybe its the council who are the profiteers eh?? .

 

People in similar situations manage all the time. Why is this woman so special.

 

I said it was below £400. Are you thick? Those private rents you mention, are they all available without deposit, rent in advance or fees?

 

I'd also love to know how you know that people in her situation "manage all the time" since you are totally divorced from that world and my job is to help people in her situation precisely because they don't manage.

Edited December 23, 2017 by Bob Arctor

[El Cid]

If 30 years ago you were convinced to vote Conservative because you believed in the 'trickle down' theory; but yet today we have the same or more people, as a percentage, homeless - then the 'trickle down' theory is nonsense.

 

Trickle-down economics is a theory that says benefits for the wealthy trickle down to everyone else.

[Anna B]

The only places I'm aware of for under £400 per month are shared houses. So you get a room and shared facilities.

 

Maybe OK for a youngster starting out, or friends. But for the middleaged? Not so sure.

[El Cid]

The only places I'm aware of for under £400 per month are shared houses. So you get a room and shared facilities.

 

Maybe OK for a youngster starting out, or friends. But for the middle-aged? Not so sure.

 

Haven't older people had a life time to save their money, or share a house for £250 per month?

 

Loads of house shares on

 

https://uk.easyroommate.com/search/profiles/H17121011953119?lat=53.7388343811035&lng=-1.59180450439453&amin=30&amax=60&gen=0&occ=0&pic=0

 

https://blog.spareroom.co.uk/spareroom-uk-landing-1/?aff=2029&gclid=CjwKCAiAmvjRBRBlEiwAWFc1mJUtIja4U93JqHP_3ttadDO20ORP6OD2KmcvGaBLVTSTpqwfiBzxORoCsWQQAvD_BwE

[The Joker]

Haven't older people had a life time to save their money, or share a house for £250 per month?

 

perhaps some Nigerian prince scammed them out of all their life savings

[Cyclone]

Haven't older people had a life time to save their money, or share a house for £250 per month?

 

Loads of house shares on

 

https://uk.easyroommate.com/search/profiles/H17121011953119?lat=53.7388343811035&lng=-1.59180450439453&amin=30&amax=60&gen=0&occ=0&pic=0

 

https://blog.spareroom.co.uk/spareroom-uk-landing-1/?aff=2029&gclid=CjwKCAiAmvjRBRBlEiwAWFc1mJUtIja4U93JqHP_3ttadDO20ORP6OD2KmcvGaBLVTSTpqwfiBzxORoCsWQQAvD_BwE

 

A lifetime of saving your minimum wage, with breaks when you're unemployed will leave people with savings of approx £0.

 

---------- Post added 24-12-2017 at 09:39 ----------

 

I saw a woman recently who works part time and earns £650 per month and receives no housing benefit, rent on council tenancy a bit shy of £400 per month and liable for a bit less than full council tax. I rang Sheffield Benefits Service thinking it must be a mistake and she must be entitled to some housing benefit but no, it's apparently correct. How are people supposed to manage? She'd have been better off not working.

 

According to an online benefits calculator (and making a load of assumptions, such as minimum wage, 20 hrs a week)

 

You may be entitled to claim:

£43.02 / weekly

Our estimate is based on the information you have entered and does not guarantee entitlement. You qualify for the following benefits:

 

Universal credit from Nov 2018 for Sheffield

Universal Credit

£68.65 / weekly

 

If she works less hours then she appears not to qualify (I changed it to 15hrs and it won't go through any further until I also say that Income support is paid). Once I do say that IS is paid, then it comes out with the same number.

 

Try it here.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/

[Bob Arctor]

A lifetime of saving your minimum wage, with breaks when you're unemployed will leave people with savings of approx £0.

 

---------- Post added 24-12-2017 at 09:39 ----------

 

 

According to an online benefits calculator (and making a load of assumptions, such as minimum wage, 20 hrs a week)

 

You may be entitled to claim:

£43.02 / weekly

Our estimate is based on the information you have entered and does not guarantee entitlement. You qualify for the following benefits:

 

Universal credit from Nov 2018 for Sheffield

Universal Credit

£68.65 / weekly

 

If she works less hours then she appears not to qualify (I changed it to 15hrs and it won't go through any further until I also say that Income support is paid). Once I do say that IS is paid, then it comes out with the same number.

 

Try it here.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/

 

Thanks Cyclone. We use the entitledto calculator often, it's a good tool for people to know about. I can't give too much away about her circumstances because of confidentiality but she wansn't working many hours because that was all she could do without it impacting adversley on her mental health.

 

Her best bet is to try to claim ESA and then work under the Permitted Work rules. In a sane world where we actually want people to do the work they are able to (rather than say we do and then make it really hard), this would be straightforward. In our country, the following things need to happen:

 

- she needs to know about Permitted Work, which no-one had told her about until she came to us

- she needs to get through the shockingly poor Work Capability Assessment to get ESA in the long term. We know that many, many people are wrongly denied this benefit, we see this all the time. The fact that she is already working makes it much harder for her to get ESA, most assessors have a poor understanding of mental health and how this impacts on peoples' ability to work or work more hours

- her employer needs to agree to reduce her hours under the Permitted Work threshold

 

Now, all of those things might happen, or equally they might not. What we do know is that it's likely to be made unneccesarily difficult for her and in the meantime she will really struggle.

 

I don't want to divert the thread too much into benefits and work but obviously they relate strongly to the rise in homelessness. People like this person have very, very few routes into housing because they can't afford the upfront costs of the private sector (or indeed housing associations, who are increasingly asking for rent in advance at the start of a tenancy). If she lost her council tenancy due to not being able to afford the rent, where would she go?

[Cyclone]

Fair enough, if I understand correctly then not working enough hours means you don't qualify for very much, she'd actually get more if she was unemployed, is that right?

[melthebell]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42477120

 

heartwarming christmas news, at least some people care about the homeless, pity its only 200 they can help tho

[Ms Macbeth]

Fair enough, if I understand correctly then not working enough hours means you don't qualify for very much, she'd actually get more if she was unemployed, is that right?

 

That seems to be the case. Unfortunately the system often seems to let down those who need it most. I hope the lady in question is bidding for council accommodation, at least that would offer security of tenure, and it's cheaper.