Beka
03-23-2007, 06:02 AM
the UGH situation over housing i wrote about in the life's difficulties board to a huuuuge upswing yesterday...
i was sitting here with my sketchbook (seriously!!!) working out exactly how i was going to maximise the space we have (converting an under the stairs cupboard to a computer nook, splitting bedroom etc) when my phone rings and it's the man from the housing department - phoning to tell me that since i phoned and he had to tell me how low our points alottment was he couldn't get it out of his head we are 6 people in such a tiny house and yet had such a low point score so he pulled my file manually rather than on the computer data and looked through it only to realise whoever stored the data on registered TWO of my 4 kids!!!! (Loks and Chase) and in light of that he'd been back through and i have 150points, not 80 like originally, he then told me if i took a letter down confirming we recieved a tax credit (due to david being a manual worker in low income industry) we'd get an extra 10points- now the people at the very top of the list only have 200!!!!
sooooo i ran (well as fast as one can with 2 preschoolers and a stroller) to their office to hand in my letter and they are updating our file- we now stand a MUCH better chance of rehousing- he also advised me on elements to change to get housed quicker- we've now said we'll happily except a 3 bedroom (as he said only 1 4 bedroom came to rent in the whole of their portfolio last year!!!!!- our town has over 100K of residents if that gives you an idea how hard 4 bedroom rentals are to get) he also said if i say i'll take any area in the town i'll get offered alot of different properties when i hit top of the list and then i can turn down the ones i don't think we could live in (travel distance to schools & work being our deciding factor)
I just can NOT believe what an amazing turn of luck it has been!!!! The fact he actually got our paper file out and read through it himself made all the difference, if he hadn't have they'd just have added 5 points a year on as they'd have writen to me to ask if we had any changes and of course i'd have said no as i thought they had all 4 kids registered!
I am just dancing here- truly! So now it looks like it'll only be a year, 2 at the most and possibly much faster for us to get home :thumbsup
i was sitting here with my sketchbook (seriously!!!) working out exactly how i was going to maximise the space we have (converting an under the stairs cupboard to a computer nook, splitting bedroom etc) when my phone rings and it's the man from the housing department - phoning to tell me that since i phoned and he had to tell me how low our points alottment was he couldn't get it out of his head we are 6 people in such a tiny house and yet had such a low point score so he pulled my file manually rather than on the computer data and looked through it only to realise whoever stored the data on registered TWO of my 4 kids!!!! (Loks and Chase) and in light of that he'd been back through and i have 150points, not 80 like originally, he then told me if i took a letter down confirming we recieved a tax credit (due to david being a manual worker in low income industry) we'd get an extra 10points- now the people at the very top of the list only have 200!!!!
sooooo i ran (well as fast as one can with 2 preschoolers and a stroller) to their office to hand in my letter and they are updating our file- we now stand a MUCH better chance of rehousing- he also advised me on elements to change to get housed quicker- we've now said we'll happily except a 3 bedroom (as he said only 1 4 bedroom came to rent in the whole of their portfolio last year!!!!!- our town has over 100K of residents if that gives you an idea how hard 4 bedroom rentals are to get) he also said if i say i'll take any area in the town i'll get offered alot of different properties when i hit top of the list and then i can turn down the ones i don't think we could live in (travel distance to schools & work being our deciding factor)
I just can NOT believe what an amazing turn of luck it has been!!!! The fact he actually got our paper file out and read through it himself made all the difference, if he hadn't have they'd just have added 5 points a year on as they'd have writen to me to ask if we had any changes and of course i'd have said no as i thought they had all 4 kids registered!
I am just dancing here- truly! So now it looks like it'll only be a year, 2 at the most and possibly much faster for us to get home :thumbsup