bubsy06:
You have to be Naive to think landlords aint ripping off the goverment.
Believe what you want - but the situation is dreadful with housing at present, especially for single people. Housing Benefit no longer exists for new claimants - it’s now Local Housing Allowance, to which existing Housing Benefit claimants are gradually being migrated.
Local Housing Allowance is set based on the 33rd centile rent for an area - that is, you put all the rents in order for rented properties of a certain size, then choose the figure a third of the way from the bottom. This makes two thirds of the properties in the area instantly too expensive for people on LHA. People on benefits may be able to top up their rent a little from the benefits, but benefits leave little over to put towards rent. The LHA rules only allow you a certain number of rooms according to the size of your family - indeed, if I remember the LHA rules correctly, you lose a certain amount of LHAÂ for every bedroom regarded as unnecessary.
Many of the bottom third rents will be with social landlords - councils and housing associations - but these landlords have ever growing waiting lists. Friends of mine were recently unintentionally homeless in Cambridgeshire following the loss of a job with tied accommodation. Their young daughter put them into the highest category of housing need, but they spent six months living in one room in a homelessness hostel before being offered social housing.
My friend made some freedom of information requests recently, which revealed how bad the situation was in that council area - though I’m writing from memory, I’m sure the gist of this is correct. I believe that nobody outside the top need bracket has got social housing for the first time in that council area for the past six months: the only non-top priority applicants getting housing in that area have been are existing tenants swapping with another existing tenant or, in a handful of cases, moving from one social let to another. The number of people in that top priority group on the waiting list is growing over time, so there’s next to no point bothering to bid for social housing in that area if you’re in a lower priority group.
With social housing unavailable to many, there are a huge number of people chasing the limited number of private rented properties that can be afforded on LHA. Landlords will only rent to LHA claimants if they cannot get more on the open market - and as there is a shortage of rental housing in many areas, LHA claimants never get a look-in. I believe that my friend’s council has not been able to place any homeless people in private rented property for the past six months as there are no landlords remaining who are willing to let to LHA claimants on affordable rents.
A great deal of private rented property is mortgaged, and many buy-to-let mortgages do not allow the landlord to rent to HB/LHA claimants. Indeed, landlords are sometimes precluded from renting to HB/LHA claimants by their insurance or the lease on which they hold the property. The standard requirement to pass the referencing requirements for a private let is permanent employment at a salary of 2.5 times the rent. Most people who cannot manage that will either need a guarantor (who is in permanent employment at a salary of 3 times the rent) or you will have to pay at least part of the rent for the fixed period of the tenancy in advance. Usually you have to pay the first month in advance, plus a deposit of several hundred pounds. This means putting at least £1000 down to walk through the door of a one-bedroomed flat in many areas. Selling a car may well not pay the rent for long, will do nothing to get you past the reference requirements for renting and cuts down on the options for future employment.
As people are migrated from HB to LHA, many are finding their current rent unaffordable and are having to move out. This means yet more pressure on the almost non-existent supply of affordable rented accommodation.
The reality in much of the south-east, and, indeed, in many other parts of the country, is that we are facing a housing emergency. Unless you fall into the highest category of need (which covers little more than those with children, or who are ill/disabled), councils have little obligation to do anything and often have nothing to offer you. If the subject of this thread is by herself and doesn’t have any minor children living with her, it is likely that all her council will be able to offer her is advice and sympathy, not housing.
Going to another area where rents are cheaper will not help, as councils have no housing obligation towards you unless you have a genuine connection to the area. Indeed, councils will investigate the circumstances in which you became homeless, as they have no housing obligation to the intentionally homeless. It can be very hard indeed for those escaping relationship breakdown or abuse to prove they are unintentionally homeless.
Others have eloquently outlined the issues with claiming benefits without a permanent address. Despite the exceptions the papers drag up (and often misrepresent), it is not easy to get by on benefits and jobs are still difficult to come by. I hope that people are able to offer the subject of this thread some practical help towards employment, so that she can get herself back on her feet. Homelessness could happen to any of us - it would have happened to me when my health collapsed unexpectedly were it not for my parents.
i have done more miles backwards yadayadayada 
and your local housing office is really there to get you a house, not to mitigate the councils expense by finding any excuse not to house you…
see you too are getting irritated by the “sent with tappatalk” etc
The housekeeping “job” pays her way for bed and board only.