Housing charity has to turn away two-thirds of callers
Saturday 26th March 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
TWO-THIRDS of the desperate people who seek help from the Sarnia Housing Association have to be turned away, according to the charity’s chairman.
Martin Le Boutillier (pictured) said he could not put a figure on the number of calls it received because it did not keep statistics, but he said the association has been struggling to cope.
One of the worst cases was in 2006 when a family was living in their car in the Frossard House car park.
At this year’s annual meeting, Mr Le Boutillier said the housing situation was not improving, although he admitted he was surprised when he found out about a family living in their car.
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One of the problems is a lot of rental flats wont take children. You may have the money the good references it doesnt matter if you have children a lot of them wont take you. We are talking from a pregnant lady to 16 year old children. I was made homeless because of this problem and when speaking to charities like the one above I was told there was a waiting list and a lot of people were in the same boat because they had children. I now have a rental flat and I such a good quite tenant im out at work all day, child in bed by 7 and im in bed by 9. Never have partys, music playing and the place is super clean. In the 2 years of looking for a flat i had young friends who got a place over me because they didnt have children within 6 months they were kicked out for partying ect.
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Houses are built to house adults AND children. Surely in a lot of cases there is a case of discrimination when people are told that they cant rent a property because they have children. How can they justify putting a 2 or 3 bedroom property up for rent and then say its unsuitable for children when that property, when it was built, was designed as a family home. The trouble is that landlords see property as their own money tree and seem to forget that they were children once. Landlords are, by and large, selfish people who care little for others. They are part of a general trend in modern society that puts money before people which is encouraged by the banks. We all know how morally corrupt the banking industry is.
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Because I have a kid.
Try going to the States. Those of us without children have the same problem with States housing as you have with private, in reverse, ie “Come back when you have some kids”.
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Hello steve i went to the states (well houseing) when i was homeless and they wont take you on the list unless you have somewhere to live, if you are homeless or staying at friends you cant go on the list for a states house. I have a place now and im on the list for a states house and have been for 3 years! I like living in rental and dont really want a states house but when my rent keeps going up each year more then cost of living and no where else will take children I have no choose. I know where you are coming from steve things seem to be very backwards in Guernsey, we wouldnt need so many states houses if rentals took children.
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Because I have a kid. You should count yourself lucky that you have a choice and CAN go to the States Housing. My rent, and other bills, also increase more than cost of living but as I have no kids I have no choice. The States don’t want to help people without children. They always give the same old waffle about helping those with children is their priority. I don’t understand why the sytsem over here isn’t fairer like the Council housing on the mainland.
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Cheesedoff, I do count myself lucky we moan about this and that with the states but we are all very luckly to live somewhere these sort of things like houseing are available. Plenty of places in the world kids or no kids would say tough your on your own. Over here we have access to medical care, charities like the one above, states just to name a few. I understand rental is a lot for most people over here and all the bills seem to be going up lately, I dont really want to start a discussion and my situation I was just pointing out if say every or most rental took children I would more then likly find somewhere else to rent as my rent has just gone up by £200 a month & I wouldnt of been homeless for 2 years because I couldnt find a rental that would take children and when i did it was gone before I had a chance to go for a viewing. Im not sure I dont know all the ins and out but I thought states houseing did help people with low income even if they didnt have children and old people, but like I say I dont know all the ins and outs.
@ Blogger. very much agree
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Because I have a Kid, sorry I didn’t mean any offence. I was just trying to say that it’s very difficult to find accommodation that’s half decent and affordable. No private sector rents are cheap but those at the bottom of the scale often mean that the places are in a poor state of repair or an area that wouldn’t be the ideal choice to live in with or without children. At the other end there are some beautiful homes out there but they simply aren’t affordable unless you earn megabucks.
I take my hat off to you, you appear to be proud of your home. It’s good to see someone who works for what they need. Many out there could do with taking a leaf out of your book.
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