So, my college will not have room for me after the next 2.5 weeks, and I don't have anywhere lined up to go, so I am throwing this out into the forumvoid in the hope that someone can help in some way. I've just recently graduated (from university) and have been applying for jobs for months, but haven't gotten one yet. Still continuing to apply, but at this point I've got to accept that an offer probably isn't coming through before I have to get out, so I have to make alternate arrangements. My main problem is that, as far as I can tell, I cannot rent a flat without being able to prove that I earn 3x the rent, and obviously at the moment I can't do that! (Many places will let you have a guarantor if you can't earn 3x the rent, but the only person I knew eligible and willing to do that moved to Japan.) It's possible to get help with your rent costs, according to the goverment/council - but again, you can't do that before you live in/rent a place, and you can't rent a place without proof of income, so I am very ??? about all that. It seems to apply to people who had a job and then lost it, rather than new grads who haven't found one yet. (Even though that must be very common?) I'm estranged from my parents, and my family doesn't have room/doesn't want me staying with them. Does anyone have any help/advice/anything I've forgotten? I'm super stressed about all this, as I'm sure you can imagine, so my brain isn't in the best of shape, but just, argh.
That is a shitty situation. Witnessed. Also, and probably completely out of left field: are Workaway or WOOFing options at all? They take care of accommodations + resume building all in one go. Other than that, are there council offices you can go to to ask questions?
ask citizens advice, they're usually pretty helpful and they'll be able to walk you though all the deliberately obtuse government benefit systems. iirc you can drop into your local office whenever to get help so that's definitely worth a try. it might also be worth looking into renting a room with other people. in my experience ppl who are letting to a lodger are a lot more lax with their contracts than a Proper Landlord TM might be. it also often works out cheaper depending on where you live. otherwise that sucks ass. do you have friends you can crash with until something opens up?
If you don't have a place to stay, the local council should place you on the priority list for council housing (if they have one; if not, it will be whatever local housing authority provides affordable housing.) If you are eligible for JSA and not claiming, put a claim in immediately, since that will help with the process of claiming rent and council tax reductions. Council benefit claims are labyrinthine to navigate (I used to work for the local authority *grimaces*) but hopefully your local citizens advice can help with paperwork, eligibility etc.
Thank you for this recommendation! I am somewhat crippled right now, so I'm not sure that would work out very well at the moment, but a lot of the work on there sounds like something I'd quite possibly love to pursue in the future if I become Less Crippled. (And it's a useful resource to know about for other people too.) Thanks! My local office is open a few times a week, it seems, so I will go and poke them on Monday. That's a good point - I will poke at local things doing that (student town, so there's a lot of that at certain times of year and not much at others). My friends-in-this-country are all in similarly-constrained circumstances (eg house w/ five other people, bf sleeping on couch, etc) but a friend-in-another-country is tapping their network of UK people to see if they have spare rooms and are up for Random Lodger for a little while. Which is honestly amazing, I do not expect people to be that kind. Thank you; this is useful. (And omg, labyrinthine is the correct word. I started the PIP application process back in October and still haven't finished it!) A lot of my concerns with local-council stuff is that they could decide I'm intentionally homeless, because if they called my parents they'd be all 'oh we'd love to have Lib come home', and that coming at the price of Really Bad Shit never seems to matter to authorities unless it leaves you with broken limbs. Which is a lot of why I'm glad that other things may be possibilities too. And I do appreciate all of your kindnesses.
