Couch-surfing Doncaster father says St Leger Homes are pushing him to ‘unaffordable’ private rent
A young, homeless father-of-one couch-surfing with friends and family in Doncaster has said he feels he had hit a wall in the process to find a permanent home for him and his son.
Kian French has no fixed address and said St Leger Homes of Doncaster (SLHD), who manage social housing for the local council, are pushing him to find private housing – something he says he cannot afford.
The 23-year-old, who has been forced out of work due to mental health reasons, said: “I won’t get private renting on my universal credit.
“Every time I ring up to see if they can help me, they keep saying there is nothing else they can do because I’m not classed as a vulnerable adult.”
Whilst he remains without his own home, Kian must inform the authority of where his young son is living every two weeks.
His son currently stays with his mother, Kian’s ex-partner, but former warehouse worker Kian is desperate to have a place for his young family.
“It would be the making of us,” he said, “It would just be great for my relationship with him.”
Kian said his repeated requests to SLHD to raise the priority of his case have been denied and recently discovered his homeless application to the organisation had been closed.
He said he had spent the last few weeks sleeping on his mother’s sofa, so he could be close to his son, but SLHD have determined “there is a reasonable prospect that you can remain in your current property for six months”.
A spokesperson for St Leger Homes of Doncaster said: “We understand Mr French is in a difficult situation and have been working with him to help find suitable accommodation. At the moment we are waiting on information from him which we need to progress with his housing application, and in the meantime we have also been helping him to source private rented accommodation.
“Due to the housing shortage and higher cost of living we have been experiencing, we have seen a very high demand for both our housing and homelessness services in recent years.
“We must always follow government legislation when assessing someone’s housing priority and any decision we make is always based on these rules. We would encourage Mr French to provide the requested information so his housing application can be activated and we can fully explore all of his housing options.”