Having Hell with Housing

I've not updated this for a while...  To be honest, stress kind of makes me seize up...  My brain thinks about all of the possibilities and before I know it, it's two o'clock in the morning and I have to be up for work in four hours...

So here's an update.  It's exactly two weeks since I applied for housing and I still haven't heard anything from University Accommodation - only their first email acknowledging my application.

But, as I mentioned in my last post, I received a phone call from Student Welfare shortly after I applied for housing stating that because I'm British it would be "very unlikely" that I'd get University family accommodation.  I immediately started searching the internet for private rent houses.

There were a few out there, but they were very expensive - of course, they would be, they're in York!  But I reckon that I could manage with LHA...  Unfortunately, they won't even make a calculation until I've got my childcare grant - so I have to have moved there already...

I went to view three flats on Saturday - A small one bed flat above a hairdresser, a very small two bed flat that was too far away and a gigantic one bedroom flat that was really close to the University.  The latter was fantastic - it would have been perfect - so I phoned up first thing this Monday to apply.  The estate agent said that it would be up to the landlord.  After putting the phone down, I thought "no wait, all the landlord knows about me is that I'm a student single mum - I have much more to offer than that.  I've been a civil servant for five years, I've been working, I have savings..."  So I called back to tell them all the good things that I have going for me!  It was then that the bombshell was dropped.

They wanted SIX MONTHS rent in advance, as well as the bond and all of the fees.  You read that correctly - SIX MONTHS.  A quick calculation reveals that to be £4,025.  What student has FOUR THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE POUNDS in their bank account?

I subsequently learned that this wasn't uncommon - I'm a student, the word chewed up and spat out between the disgusted teeth of landlords.  A "student" - it's become some kind of curse word...  Like "commoner" or "leper"...  This was why six months of rent was required up front - just from the "students".

And there's nothing I can do about it - My life savings do not amount to £4025.  Even with the Charity for Civil Servants helping me, I can't afford it.

My MP could help, surely - I called, certain that he'd have a gem of knowledge that could rush to my rescue!  He didn't.  The government want people to be educated!  Wasn't that a quote I'd heard?  "No one should have to turn down an education because they can't afford it".  I waited for him to think it through - would anything come to mind?  I got a reply yesterday.  They've spoken to University accommodation and "unfortunately, they say that all of the family accommodation has filled up".  They haven't emailed me yet to say the same.  I find out through a third party.  Even now, I've had no news - it feels like they're biding their time trying to sugarcoat a response - "sorry, but because you're British, we can't house you."

What am I to do?  University Housing won't help.  Private landlords are asking for too much.  I've looked everywhere, phoned everywhere, and I'm really not joking - I've made 96 phone calls since Saturday.  I can't even get a bursary to assist - it's too late.  What now?

I have but three more options - three more paths to take.
The first, I can apply for help from CCS to pay the initial costs and try to scrounge the rest from the whole of my life savings, to afford the tiny one bedroom flat above the hairdresser...
The second, stay where I am and only attend lectures on one day a week, by asking my mum to look after my son so that I can get the train 117 miles up there and back, and risk being kicked out by the University for living more than thirty miles away (yes, that's in their rules, would you believe)
The third, the proverbial bullet to the chest - give up my place at the university.  The place that I worked so hard for, that I studied my HNC while keeping my full time job and raising my son for, that I've aimed towards, that I've dreamt about.

My hard work doesn't count for anything - my nomination for Young Female Engineer of the Year at the IET - my 15 and a half Distinctions - my countless exams.  I cannot possibly explain to you how much this is breaking my heart.

There are no quotes of patience or solidarity today...  I couldn't possibly take it to hear any more.