I was living in Stevenage but got into rent arrears with the council and was evicted unexpectedly in October 2020, during the first lockdown. I was really surprised at this in lots of ways – the reason I had been given the place was because I had mental health issues and had tried to commit suicide. They knew this and still evicted me, during a pandemic.
When I was evicted, I was homeless for about a month and lived on the streets, then I went to my parents’, but that just didn’t work. I sought help from the drug centre and then Trinity Church in Bishop’s Stortford, who put me in a hotel for about eight weeks, and then I got a place in a shared house in Harlow.
If the government didn’t strangle you with benefits, I wouldn’t be in this situation. When you sign up to Universal Credit, you don’t get it for a month/six weeks, so you need to get a loan, so you’re behind immediately. There’s no space to sort yourself out. They automatically take the council tax and rent arrears out of my Universal Credit now, so I’m left with about £200 a month which covers food, my phone bill, travel to the job centre and for courses. I’ll be in this situation for years.
I have no idea how much they are going to deduct at any time, no idea how much I owe in rent arrears, but I can’t get through to anyone. There’s no way to plan because I’m not given all the information to work with. I feel like I’m just on hold and chasing people to find out what’s going on all the time.
If you have any questions about your Universal Credit claim, you have to write it online in your journal, and then a worker will call you in a few days and talk to you about it, but they don’t have the power to sort anything out, so there’s no help there.
It was never as bad with JSA; with Universal Credit you’re in debt from the start, it doesn’t make sense to me. With JSA you were able to talk to a person. Now you’re pushed online and just left waiting to speak to someone. It would really help if they could freeze the deductions for long enough for me to sort myself out and get a job.
Even when they evicted me, I only had seven days’ notice. There’s no payment plan in place and I have no one to call for support. I spend a lot of time on hold with different people trying to work out what’s going on or get help. All they seem to care about is money, not the situation I’m in. I tried to appeal it as an unlawful eviction but I didn’t know where to start, and then I was pushed around by people and didn’t get anywhere. Shelter said that I would have a good case; they said they would get back to me but I’m still waiting now.
I didn’t receive any warning about the eviction, I just got a letter giving me seven days to go. When I phoned to ask what was going on, they said I was being evicted due to lack of communication. I said I hadn’t received any communication to respond to and thought it would be down to rent arrears, so then their story changed to that.
I was crying on the phone as they were changing the locks on my home. They knew I had mental health problems and needed support, but they threw me out without any warning anyway. I was sent a bill for what it cost them to get rid of my furniture, which they put on top of my rent arrears. How am I supposed to change things, if they keep penalising me?
Now I’m glad to have somewhere permanent to call my home. I’m happy to stay there and see what happens and hope to get somewhere of my own one day but for now It’s better than being on the streets. There isn’t any communal space in the shared house so I end up eating my dinner on my bed and staying in my room a lot, but we’re going to try and change the kitchen a bit to get a table in there. I’m lucky to have been put with people I like. I stay in and keep myself to myself most of the time but go for a walk when I can. It’s good to get a bit of routine. I had been doing a mental health course through the college but the pandemic has thrown that up in the air a bit. I have so many qualifications – I need a routine and mental stimulation. I want to work with people to support them with their mental health because I feel I can give them a different level of support. I understand how they feel and what they’re going through.
It’s my first time at the foodbank here today. I’ve been to the one in Stevenage before, but never in Harlow.