Mum and baby daughter face sofa-surfing due to struggle to find a home

hollie1 — Hollie and her daughter will be sofa-surfing from June 11

A mum-of-one faces sleeping on the floor of a relative’s house with her one-year-old daughter because she has been unable to secure a new home.

Hollie Tyrell, 19, says her age and being on housing benefit means she cannot even get to the viewing stage.

She said: “I’m having to put my stuff in a lock up and we are going to stay with a relative until I can find somewhere but will have to have a mattress on their living room floor because they don’t have the space for anything else.”

Hollie says she handed in her notice for her current flat in Cliftonville due to issues with the property. The circumstances are disputed by the landlord.

However, because she handed in her notice, when she leaves on June 11 Thanet council will deem her intentionally homeless.

It is not the first time Hollie has had to sofa surf. Following a relationship break up the teen was homeless in August 2021 and did not find a property until December 2022.

She said: “I started sofa surfing after moving out of my baby dad’s house when we broke up. The council was informed and I was put on the housing list. I had no help and ended up sofa surfing with my young daughter.

“In roughly November 2022 I was offered temporary accommodation in Maidstone but due to the support I need from family I refused and continued to sofa surf, with no help from the council.

“In December 2022 I was found a two-bedroom flat but unfortunately had problems.”

Hollie says she has been unable to get any help and property prices are beyond her reach.

She said: “Housing is over £800 for a small two bedroom and unfortunately most won’t accept a young non-working mum. I have done everything to get a home for us. I have been refused for properties because of age and income.”

One of the issues in Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. LHA is used to work out the amount of housing benefit a person can claim but is based on the number of bedrooms they need and not how much the rent is.

Rates have not changed over the last three years and are currently per month:

Shared accommodation	£299.17
1 bedroom	£473.72
2 bedrooms	£648.22
3 bedrooms	£797.81
4 bedrooms	£947.40

The LHA falls below most market rates with a search today (June 1) finding just one 2-bed property within that range (£575) and the next cheapest listing for £775pm.

The LHA problem

Last year Thanet council’s housing director Bob Porter highlighted the issue saying there were at that time 197 households in temporary accommodation, slightly down from a high point of over 200 but still at the highest rate for three years.

He said: “The spike follows issues related to covid, changing patterns of where people live and where they work, changing behaviour of landlords leaving the sector, either selling or moving into short term lets and cost of living issues and rent increases.

“In the budget announcements from government there were announcements about benefits increasing with the rate of inflation but what government hasn’t done is change the LHA rate and you would think that would be increased in line with inflation in the private rented sector but it hasn’t and that’s going to make it even more challenging.”

Homelessness charity Shelter says Local Housing Allowance (LHA) should be restored to cover at least the cheapest 30% (of local rents.

It also recommends LHA rates should be re-linked to the cost of renting in future years to keep them in line with at least the 30th percentile as the private rental market fluctuates and, in the longer term, says there needs to be investment in a new generation of social housing, with rents pegged to local income.

Accommodation

There are around 1,800 households on the housing waiting list in Thanet and the council receives around 1,000 homelessness applications each year.

A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We have successfully prevented 181 households from becoming homeless in 2023. Where emergency accommodation is needed, we aim to rehouse people in Thanet when there is suitable accommodation available. In some cases placement out of the district is unavoidable.

“We cannot comment on individual circumstances, but will always support people who require assistance, and liaise with other services and agencies to ensure anyone who is vulnerable gets the help they need.”