Colder and SSHA bidding system I don't understand.

Well it has got colder - this is the temperature of the room that I've got to sleep in tonight and no doubt it's going to get colder this piccy was taken at 21.30.

But you know I have a problem with the bidding system Shropshire Homepoint have in place. Every week they list a series of properties available for rent and if there is something that is suitable for you, you can bid on it. And depending on your priority listing you may or may not have a chance of getting that property.

But they also list the properties that have been awarded through the bidding system, however, properties that are not listed as having successful bids on them are taken. An example, we had a phonecall Tuesday afternoon asking if I was going to bid on a property in Bishop's Castle and during that phonecall two properties that had been listed in Clun but not awarded were mentioned and the woman from SSHA and she said they'd been allocated but there was not mention of it on the awarded properties.

How can this happen?

Perhaps total transparency in the system would make sense or what's the point of bidding? Or if properties are allocated outside the bidding system what is the point of it all?

Oh and I didn't get the place in Bishop's Castle so back to my below freezing shed and just for the record we were speaking to a police officer and he said there is no way my lads should move to where SSHA want them to live - it's dangerous!

Apologies if this post doesn't make much sense or if I've missed words out but I'm not well and so cold - can't think straight.

How much lower or longer?

21.30 tonight the temperature was, well as you can see damn cold in my shed. The temperature tonight for the Clun Valley is forecast at -10 that's one of the joys of living here, we're colder than the rest of the country I think but the scenery does compensate.

I did go to the doctors yesterday morning and she's increased my pain medication and when I showed her my hands and the flare up of my Psorasis she said that was down to stress.

Oh and joy of joys the dreaded lurgy is lurking. mind you I've done well so far, this will be the first cold of the winter. On the positive though, the snowdrops are out, the daffodils are forcing their way through the ground and the nights are getting lighter - spring is on its way.

I do wonder how much longer this is going to go on because it is taking it toll on me and I also wonder how much lower these temperatures are going to go. But, compared to last winter this is almost barby weather.  Hopefully it will warm up soon.

Literally freezing - my health and life are being put at risk

This picture was taken at 22.15 this evening in the shed that I have been forced to sleep in because I'm disabled and can't safely climb stairs so therefore I can't sleep in a bedroom.

In a booklet published Keep Warm Keep Well published by the Department of Health it states that the rest of your house other than the living room should be at least 16 degrees C or you may be risking your health.

In the booklet there is a paragraph about staying healthy in the winter and quoting from it 'we're all more likely to feel the chill in the winter, but cold weather can lead to very serious health problems, such as heart attacks, strokes or pneumonia and sometimes the cold weather can even kill - especially if you have a long-term health condition or are 65 or over.

Good news I'm not 65 or over.

But, I have serious health issues and am chronically ill. I also have an immune deficiency and last time I had a bad infection I ended up in hospital unable to move and in total agony.

South Shropshire Housing Association do not have the right to put my life at risk - which is exactly what they're doing. They also do not have the right to split my family up or take away my carers.

But on the plus side if I don't survive this winter - laws of inheritance my lads will at keep this house so they'll have a roof over their heads.

You've probably guessed - I've had enough, I'm so cold, in serious pain and am finding it incredibly difficult to cope - if it doesn't snow over night and I can get to the car safely in the morning - I'm going to the doctors.

Brrrrr

Slept in my clothes last night, it was too cold to get undressed and this morning well the pain is horrible. I can't stand up straight and I'm so cold.

And tonight

The temperature in my shed is 1 degree above freezing. But at least I have the comfort of knowing that those who have put me and my family in this situation are warm tonight.

The truth does not make good radio

I finally received a reply from Ann Sutcliffe (Group Executive Director of Neighbourhoods for South Shropshire Housing Association) to my letter which arrived on her desk on 3rd January. Basically I'm stuffed and unless I'm prepared to make my sons homeless I can rot in my shed.

However, what is interesting is her response to my questions about what she said on Radio Shropshire on 16th December.

I asked her why had she said it was possible to rehouse my sons before me when I'd been told that it wasn't possible.

Her reply in the letter says

I agree that I stated on the radio that it is possible to rehouse you before your sons are rehoused. But what she didn't say on the radio and what I didn't find out until the letter I received from Nirmal Samrai on 23rd December was that my sons would be charged a daily 'use and occupation charge' whilst they remained in the property and whilst we sought possession of it. I understand it wouldn't have made good radio if she'd said, yes they can stay there but we'll charge them and then evict them.

Misleading or what?

She also agreed on the radio that it was possible for us to consider signing the tenancy over to my lads.

I had been told this was not possible.

She goes on to say 'but they had told us they wanted to live separately.'

I agree this was what was advised in June, however, at the time of the interview the lads had received a new application form from SSHA because they'd said they were quite prepared to share a house. Sue Perry, my housing officer told me she'd advised Ann about the situation before the interview and Sue Perry was very much aware that the boys were changing their application but as I said - that wouldn't make good radio.

In view of this joint application however, no one has mentioned transferring the tenancy as she said on the radio but they have said that when this house is advertised on Homepoint the boys can bid on it. That's not a transfer.

Regarding the boys being on Priority which they were on from July until 21 December following Nirmal Samrai's visit and I literally mean as soon as she got back to the office - banding normally takes three weeks this didn't even take three hours they were downgraded to silver banding. Ann Sutcliffe's explanation  'Your sons' initial applications were mistakenly awarded priority banding. This was subsequently corrected when a joint application was submitted.

Five months on the wrong banding when one of my sons were bidding and it was not questioned????????

As I said not good radio.

Health wise, it's not good. I went to the hospital this morning and on top of my medication I was given a steroid to help ease the pain but as they said, it will get worse while you're living and sleeping under these ridiculously stressful conditions.

Cold

Temperature in my shed/bedroom 2 degrees and still waiting for a reply from South Shropshire Housing Association to my letter from 30.12.2011

There is a very simple solution to all of this

But sadly South Shropshire Housing Association won't hear of it.

In Clun, where two of my lads have full time paying jobs and no transport is a three bedroomed house, which they are entitled to, sitting empty. It was advertised on Shropshire Homepoint on 8th December 2011 but there were no successful bids.

Across the river, literally a five minute walk away and en route to my lads' jobs is a two bedroomed adapted for the disabled bungalow, which was advertised on Shropshire Homepoint last week. According to the successful bids for the last week, this place too is sitting empty. I am entitled to a two bedroomed bungalow.

If they were to allocate the house to the lads and the bungalow to me, my carers would be within shouting distance almost and they'd be able to be independent but there within minutes if I needed help.

In June, when we filled in the original housing application forms it was with the understanding that my lads would be close by and this was agreed by our housing officer Sue Perry. However, now things have changed.  I am expected to look for a property further a field, so say like what has happened before when I have been able to get out of bed and have called the lads for help, they could very well have a thirty mile journey, which isn't on so God knows what would happen in those circumstances.

Just a brief explanation of my disabilities may help you understand why at fifty one, I'm disabled and do need help. I have Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, which is a progressive, neuro muscular disease that means basically every muscle in my body is diseased and dying. I also have Osteo arthritis and am waiting for hip replacements. Then there is the Psoriatic Arthritis which affects all my joints and just to finish off I have Spondylitis which is arthritis in the spine. I have difficulty standing and walking and am a wheelchair user. My hands don't work very well and am in constant pain. I'm being treated for depression and just for good measure losing my hearing, which for a musician is devastating. Seriously though these conditions are made worse by stress, cold and damp.

I'm not asking for the world, just a bit of help to make the most of my life.

But as I said, sadly for us South Shropshire Housing Association won't entertain us living in Clun as a supportive family - they would rather I continued sleeping in the shed.

So be it.

One frozen blogger

I haven't posted for a while because nothing has happened. I haven't had a reply to my letters which were waiting for SSHA management on the 3rd January but I have been told verbally that Ann Sutcliffe (Executive Director of Neighbourhoods at Shropshire Housing Groups) so I eagerly wait to see what she has to say. As for Nirmal Samrai not a word.

I did have a phone call yesterday telling me that I was entitled to bid on a lovely two bedroomed bungalow in Clun but of course I can't take it until my sons have somewhere to live as was promised. They are looking around at private renting but there is nothing as yet.

One problem I do have and that is the bidding system. Every week they list between twenty and thirty properties for people to bid on and yet often there are no successful bids so the houses remain empty. However, it is claimed that there are over eight thousand people in Shropshire on the housing lists. 'Tis a mystery unless of course people don't want to live in those houses.

How's it going in the shed?

Well I've been there just over a month now and well at the moment with the temperatures at night dropping down to about -6 it is very cold and damp. To be honest it is taking its toll on me now. I'm not well and I do feel very down. At night I leave it as long as possible before going to bed because when I do get there I can't sleep or I'm afraid to sleep because I know that when I wake up, I'm in total agony.

I don't know what is going to happen or how long I shall have to stay in the shed. I did say to a friend I'd still be there next Christmas I hope not.

I'll let you know what happens next.