A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

I'm hoping someone can help me before tomorrow.

I am helping a homeless person get a flat. I've managed to negotiate with the Landlord so the bond can be paid in installments (it's a private rent as there are no one bedroom flats for rent locally, and a waiting list of nearly 500 people for council / housing association ones).

I took the person to the local One4All and helped fill in the forms for housing benefit and council tax benefit. However, the person MUST have a bank account.

We have most major banks within reach, but have a problem. The person has a passport as proof of ID. That is it. They have an old letter from a mailing address they used to use, but can no longer use and nothing else I can think of that would count as proof of address - unsurprising as they're homeless.

The person has hovered between various couches, so has not been in a shelter, so can't get a letter from any warden. They have no current letter from anywhere other than an application form for a loan from the social fund which hopefully won't be applied for now.

My question is how can they prove any address?

In the absence of being able to prove residence anywhere, how/where can they open a bank account. They need DD facilities and obviously the ability to pay money in and withdraw it with a card of some sort.

I'd be grateful for help.

[Tools]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

The best option is to go into the local branch, they will be able to advise them best as each bank differs, I assume the passport is a UK one and they are a UK citizen?

[Tools]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

It may also be an idea to contact Shelter

[Wombats]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

Thanks Tools - Shelter seems a great idea as I'm hoping to be able to take them with what they need to do it there and then.

[des8]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

A copy of the tenancy agreement should suffice, backed up by a letter from employer (if in work) or from DWP (if in receipt of benefits) a letter of entitlement.


You emphasise the need for a bank account.What about a prepaid card:
A prepaid account card can also be the perfect alternative to a bank account.

• Some prepaid cards allow you to use them like a bank account and have your wages paid directly to your card's account – without any links to any other account you may have.
• There are no unexpected bank charges and very little paperwork to fill in to get an account.
• Just use it like a bank account - you can pay bills online and set up regular payments for everything from your gas and electric bill to your broadband.
• However, be aware that many prepaid cards do not offer the same level of protection as bank accounts under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

[Wombats]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

Right, thanks Des - I'd not thought they can go to the job centre and get a letter of entitlement with mailing address on as proof of address and it will have their NI number on.

Prepaid cards may good for future financial planning, but not for this as there is no direct debit facility.

I think that sorts it!

Thanks to Tools and Des mashappy:

[Wombats]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

I thought it worth giving an update to this as it's opened my eyes about homeless people getting somewhere to live.

Yesterday was foul here, but we were up early and braved the elements. We started at the job centre to get proof of benefits, NI number and address - it would take up to three hours to get it faxed through to the job centre (about 6 hours as it turned out). We then went to the Letting Agents to pay the admin fee. As the homeless person is unemployed the Landlord had phoned their insurance company who had increased premiums by £40 per month. Obviously this was passed straight on via an increased rent which made it very iffy whether or not the person could afford it. Having decided they could, the Letting Agency phoned the Landlord who had by then decided that as they'd been homeless and were unemployed they were insisting on a guarantor (even though rent is guaranteed by the Council). Stumbling block 1.

Stumbling block 2 - we took the 'proof of address' and income, NI number to the bank after waiting 6 hours for one faxed peice of paper. Despite saying they'd accept it, the bank now change their minds as it is not a proper letter, only a FAX from the DWP - same heading and everything as a letter, but a fax. So no bank account allowed. The sheer frustration was too much for the homeless person at this stage who promptly tore up the piece of paper which stopped us being able to try other banks - stupid, but possibly understandable.

This morning we have been to see the council re the bond. They will give no help at all towards this, not one penny. Sometimes they give 'paper bonds' whereby no money changes hands, but it is an insurance the council will pay in the event the bond would not be returned. We were shown a list of 194 people waiting for a one bedroomed flat to come up in our small village alone. There are no council / housing accommodation ones available and one private known which we were trying to get. They could pay up to £259, but were unable to pay that and let us find the final £50 needed towards the bond. It was find somewherre for that price or we give you nothing.

So, despite all the help in the world, there remains a homeless person on our streets over Christmas and for the foreseeable future.

My question now is this. Which is cheaper, for the council to pay a bond and rent, or for them to pay to keep this person in a hotel which is where they will now be going? This is surely a huge waste of taxpayers money and one has to wonder, given the lack of available accommodation and the system skewed so private renting is not an option how one gets someone off the streets.

All in all a thoroughly depressing experience, and someone left on the streets over Christmas who could and should have been in their own flat. It has been a real eye opener for me, and a very unpleasant one.

So .........

What can be done about it?

I'm thinking along the lines of a well worded letter to the CEO of the council, a letter to Shelter asking for their support etc... I doubt it will achieve anything, but I have been truly shocked and saddened that so many desperate people are being forced by idiotic politics and red tape to live like outcasts from society. It also makes me determined to continue our policy of the past five or six years of taking in an unknown homeless person for around 6 months and helping them as much as we can to get their life back on track.

Very, very sad indeed.

[des8]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

A cruel situation, which is so unnecessary.

So much for joined up thinking and a caring society.

I'm deliberately not commenting on the Politics.

[Kati]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

Oh that is so unfair isn't there a local housing scheme near you? I know in our area there is one called Stonham/HTASS which is a housing association type thing (http://www.homegroup.org.uk/careands...mservices.aspx) that has short term rental houses for the homeless who are trying to find accommodation (there are a few of this type of property just down the road from us.

[Wombats]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

I'm not aware of anything like this, but I intend to find out as I need / want to be better placed to help. There are a couple of big hotels which take homeless people, but the priority for those seems to be newly released convicts (this may be wrong, I'm only going on what I heard with that).

[MissFM]

Re: A VERY Real Question (ideally needs answering by tomorrow! Eek)

Which is cheaper, for the council to pay a bond and rent, or for them to pay to keep this person in a hotel which is where they will now be going? This is surely a huge waste of taxpayers money and one has to wonder, given the lack of available accommodation and the system skewed so private renting is not an option how one gets someone off the streets.

per @Wombats

Absoutely spot on there , Wombats. It doesn't make any kind of sense.