Woman facing eviction told she would cope living on the streets

5 comments

1. Don’t worry. They’re gonna review the wording of their correspondence to make it sound less insensitive.

2. The council built 328 houses in 5 years and 301 right to buy properties was sold in that same time line. 27 fucking houses more than 5 years ago. Jesus wept. No wonder they have 4000 people on a waiting list for a council property.

3. *You are a person that I am satisfied can cope and function reasonably well with ‘day to day’ living and this would, I believe, still be the case if you were to become homeless or to remain homeless.*

   How ballsy

4. So to people who don’t like the letter; how would you phrase it? Tell someone that they are not a priority for being housed.

   Not much sympathy for the lady at this point. She’s been unemployed since 2019 and her son worked until recently yet she has £20 to her name? Their problem reduces the moment either of them get employed again.

   The council are probably right in that they will have much more vulnerable people who need their limited resources.

5. This headline is deliberately inflammatory. The Council had to apply a legal test based on the homelessness legislation. Unfortunately in this country not everyone receives emergency accommodation when made homeless.

   The test is not “you can cope on the streets”, it’s looking at whether this individual would be more vulnerable than the average person to being street homeless. Anybody becoming street homeless would experience a downturn in the physical and mental health, but some groups are more vulnerable to harm than others due to disability, pregnancy, old age etc. The letter could have been written a bit better, but the shitty system and legislation is to blame rather than the individual Council here.