After 30 years at my old flat, I’ve moved and it is wonderful. My old flat is where I brought my two children up and I do have happy memories of it, but it was also somewhere I felt trapped. It hadn’t been updated while I was there – when an estate agent came round to look at re-letting it, they said it wasn’t in a fit state – and I always felt embarrassed about inviting people round. But because I was living on benefits and carer’s allowance while I brought up my two children, who both have autism, and my rent was paid by housing benefit, I was nervous about moving to somewhere that might end up being less stable.
I think I might have been right. When I started to look for flats, I got disheartened very quickly. Even though my universal credit account has been dormant since I got a job – I had been a volunteer at the food bank for several years, but have had a full-time position since June – I still felt discriminated against when looking for flats.
