Published on 12, July, 2020
So I'm in a really complicated life scenario at the moment, I'm 19 my partner (also autistic, getting them diagnosed soon) and we are attending university and we have very low funds, my partner is learning how to drive currently.
The situation is that we are coming upon a time where it seems like the direction we are heading in is homelessness due to financial and family related issues which I'm not gonna disclose to everyone but it is serious and not great.
I was wondering if anyone knows a way or an organisation other than the council (we signed up but been put on E Tier due to the fact I have only lived in this area for one year rather than two) to assist us with getting a house/flat or anything as we can't have jobs without a set address, we can't get jobs now as we dont know the days we can work until university starts in September but we might be homeless before then.
I know this isn't specifically autism related but we are both extremely emotional and confused and stressed out and all we have left is our pets (a dog and a few cats) and our belongings which hold such sentimental value and have been pretty much the only consistent things in life.
We would be so grateful to recieve any kind of help, thank you everyone.
thank you so much for the support! I would be so grateful of your friend if he showed us some of the options, again thank you we are so grateful!! I'll get in touch with my university aswell :]
thank you for your support, honestly yeah we're gonna see what the uni can do, all the accommodations are full by now most likely but I'll still give it a shot!
I'm very sorry to hear this. I wish I could help more. I was in a very similar situation 15 years ago, and there was nobody to help me, and I did become homeless.
I'm basically only here today because one family member took sympathy on me. I tried everything because of how desperate I was, and the council was willing to give no help at all - they welcomed me to the streets. But this was long before I was diagnosed.
I actually worked for the council briefly in the department that dealt with homelessness, and basically if you don't meet the criteria then they don't care and they want you dead. You go in a pile that nobody ever looks at. I won't say what the criteria are, but from my point of view it's an exclusive club and I'll never be in it.
In my experience university departments are more likely to offer you help than any form of local government or national government, but that's based on 15 years ago and thing might have changed. I can only think things are worse now.
Hi there, thanks so much for reach out because sharing your problems is a great way to resolving them and making you feel better.
This is going to be tricky to resolve over a message board because there's lots of questions! But you mentioned that you are at the university? Have you approached the accommodation office and explain to them your situation?
My best friend is an administrator in the accommodation office at the university of Leeds, confidently state that he would be able to if not resolve your issue, be able to put you in touch with a number of organisations who could help.
As you are enrolled a university you will be able to access the expertise that they're accommodation office have. They will have the ability to be able to put you in touch with either housing departments or charities which can give you better advice than me.
Please let me know how it goes