Insight: The struggles of being deafblind and facing homelessness (BSL)

Finding a new home should be a simple process for everybody, but what stops people finding suitable accommodation? Having disabilities and being unable to work, being a single parent or zero hour contracts.

In my case having numerous disabilities and several medical conditions means I’m unable to work, so I rely on Government benefits like old-style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA,) Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and old-style Council housing benefits.

Back in 2021, my family was facing eviction from the property we stayed in for over 4 years, due to the property not being safe. Like everybody in the UK, the cost of living went up, mortgages went through the roof, but ours wasnt the case… the landlord instructed the estate agents not to rent the property anymore as it needed massive renovations. We could not believe it, so in January we got the eviction paperwork to give to our local council.

We handed the Section 21 notice to the council and filled out the homelessness application form along with all medical documents at the end of November 2022 which was pretty straightforward to do.

A week before Christmas, I received an email to have a telephone appointment with the homelessness team. I emailed back and asked for a face-to-face appointment as im classed as deafblind and got told no as the council offices are closed, I then suggest a video call, but again told no due to it not being secure.

I kept emailing and still didn’t budge on my requests, so in the end I had a telephone appointment scheduled for 2 days before Christmas day. The conversation did not go well as it took longer than expected, I asked to repeat themselves a few times or had to ask my mum for help. They did not take any of part of my disability seriously.

After the conversation, I had to wait to see if the councils homelessness team can help, but had to wait until 5 January 2023, which was the longest wait ever, as you don’t know if they will help you or not.

Eventually the dreaded email arrived…The day the email came I let out a sigh of relief as I now knew I didn’t miss it, but also panic – what are they expecting us to do for them to help us? Well, the email didn’t make any sense. It just said that we had to document what properties we are applying for, with contact details, viewing date/time and what happened. They didn’t say anything about if they are going to help.

With all London councils, once you have an appointment and get a decision you should have been given a priority banding and an affordability check but my council did not do this.

I never heard anything from my housing officer for weeks and what they had to do on their side, they never actually did. After 4 weeks, they finally emailed me asking for an update on finding private housing, but it wasn’t going too well. I applied for 300 properties, put 15 offers in, but all I was getting from landlords were “we don’t taken any benefits” or “sorry, you need to earn 30 times the rent amount.”

In this cost of living crisis everybody is either selling or downgrading their properties as they can no longer afford them, so it ends up with a property bidding war. Some properties have around 100 people viewing them, which ends up being a struggle for me to move around. I use a long cane to navigate, but people are in too much of a hurry, so constantly bumping into me.

In the beginning of June, we all recieved a letter from our nearest County Court with a date to vacate the property… one weeks notice. I emailed this to my housing officer who was on annual leave and had to wait until their return. I then spoke to someone else, who told us to stay in the property and do not leave as you will make yourself potentially homeless.

On the letter, it mentions court costs and CCJs. The courts paperwork is not accessible and trying to contact the County Court is a no go as they dont answer emails or phone calls, so how can a Deafblind person read an important letter? I was lucky enough to have my family, who can read it for me but I normally scan it to my computer and use my computer magnifier to read it.

I contacted a group on Facebook to ask about the CCJ as was really worried and nowhere in the letter explains it. After stressing about it, I recieved the answer I needed, that if you pay the fees or set up a payment plan you won’t get a CCJ.

Things were getting worse. A week later we had someone from the bailiffs office hand deliver a letter to say we had them turning up in two weeks time. Again I emailed the housing officer who again was on annual leave and would only return 2 days before the bailiffs were due to turn up.

Luckily enough I found my family a private rented property, but I still had nowhere to go as the house only had 3 bedrooms and not 4. I contacted the council to inform them what happened and things got worse for me.

It was my worst nightmare ever…After speaking to the housing officer, I was totally confused, angry and just didn’t know what to do. What they said, was the complete opposite where instead of staying in the same Borough and areas I know, they wanted to place me outside of the Borough of London upto 90 minutes away.

I reminded them of my disabilities and yet they still said I can live on my own without support of my family. I mentioned my requirements and that i need an extra bedroom for a family member to stay over for when I’m unwell and got told no as I don’t require a live-in carer as I don’t have one, until I reminded them that I’ve slways lived with my parents. I still got told no. So I gave up as they were not interested in my disabilities.

I contacted my sensory team, social services and GP to help me with this situation and they all couldn’t help, unless I found a property and moved into it, but they did advise a Needs assessment for people with disabilities. My council DO NOT HAVE a disability housing team (they are the only council I know that don’t have one), so the homelessness team don’t have disability appropriate housing, but instead only housing suitable for people that don’t have disabilities.

The day after the bailiffs turned up (luckily we moved out the day before)I recieved a telephone call from the housing officer to say they found me a suitable property which is ground floor, garden and own parking space, but the property is 40 minutes away from my family, in a different Borough, and I didn’t know the area or how to get there as I had never been there.

I told the new housing officer the problem, and about my disabilities and just got told that the property fits my criteria. So I said I will go and have a look, and I went to look with my parents. My parents were not happy due to distance, as my dad would have to pick me up every time I wanted to go out, have to walk in the side road to get to the property, and it’s a long walk to a bus stop which I can’t do due to my spinal problem.

Yet by the sounds of it, I have to take this property and be housebound. I also asked what support will I get to help me as currently rely on my parents for fire alarms and check if foods are cooked properly, and all I got was you can do it by yourself? I reminded them I’m deafblind and still they said nothing. So I’m now currently waiting for them to call and my parents are going to talk to them about all my needs.

I know councils are extremely busy with people being homeless due to the cost of living crisis, but having people with disabilities should be a priority and start searching for a suitable property that matches their needs, not leave it until day after you are evicted. It doesn’t help that the homelessness team don’t understand any disabilities as they are not trained.

It should be easy to find a private rental property when you are disabled as our benefits are more secure than people looking for work, but what can we do? Nothing… its not always the landlords decision to not take people with benefits, but their insurance company policy. This is due to.. ‘if you don’t pay rent while on benefits, they can’t claim it back from insurance companies.’

I wish I never had any disabilities to make my life easier, so I can work, unlike now as I’m a health and safety risk. But why should I change who I am. Yes some days I hate being me, but other days I think about what have I achieved? For example, I’ve recently registered my own start up business, and I have passed my level 2 in BSL. Everyone has struggles but I just keep fighting these battles that are ahead of me.

This blog has been written anonymously as part of the Insight series – where readers are invited to share their story or news about their interesting job with The Limping Chicken. If you have a story to share please email rebecca@rawithey.com 

Image courtesy of i-stock photos.