Housing association

A question about : Housing association

Good afternoon. its a bit of a rant and de-spare all in one.
I am just after a bit of advice from anyone that can help. We have been renting our current home for nearly 3 years off our local housing association, we ended up taking a house in a less desirable area due to the housing availability at the time. We both work full time and pay all own rent.
We have had our youngest son whilst living in this house and now this house is to small for us. At the moment me and my partner are sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the living room whilst the children have one of the small bedrooms each.Tomorrow we have an assessor coming out to look at the conditions of the house etc. We have today phoned up our housing association to ask about exchange or applying for a new house more suitable to our needs. This is were i feel the problems begins: We were told that we need an assessor to ok the house, then go back into the bidding system, which is all fine. Then in a different conversation we were told because we work and pay our own rent that there are houses held back and a separate pool of houses available to be given to people who work. This is a new part as they didn't do this when we first applied. So we enquired about this and were told the houses on the separate list for working people are only for new applicants to the housing association and that we are not eligible to join this list. We would have to bid within the old system and wait like everyone else, even though there are houses available more suited to our needs we can apply on the other list.
At lunch time today whilst on my 6 mile round trip to school with my dd for the 2/3 time in a day, i spotted a house for rent, took the number and rang it. I was told that to rent this house i need to ring my housing association??? even though its a private board outside. So i rang again and asked about the house i had seen, only to discover it is on the private list and one of the houses i am not allowed to apply for! but i don't know why?
I don't understand how this can be legal ? can i ask for a copy of their policy regarding this as i think it is ridiculous and is a form of social cleansing. If we pay our rent why cant i apply were i need to be and for a house that suits our needs just because we are already within their system shouldnt mean i cant applying for any houses available.
But if i fork out to move in to private rent for a couple of years and then re apply for a house, because i am working i can be added to the other list aswell??? it just doesnt make sense to me at all. Has anyone else ever heard of anything like this? after today my head is all muggled up and i just dont know what to do.

Thanks in advance for any tips or help from one very confused lady

Best answers:

• I'd get a copy of their housing policy (often online on their website) and consult with the CAB.
  I can't comment as, as far as I am aware, Housing Associations are able to priotise housing need and offers according to their policies. These policies may differ to ones offered by other HA's or the council. We aren't talking about being racist. They are just saying they have one list for 'new' prospective tenants and another for present tenants.
  But certainly I'd ask the HA to explain in a way that is clearly understood.
• Thanks for the replies, my children are boy 13, girl 4 and boy 19 months. The problem we have is all the bedrooms are the same sizeapprox 9ftx9ft no larger bedroom. We had 2 children sharing but in toddler beds but it blocked the door so we couldn't leave them like that, we tried bunk beds and the rooms aren't tall enough. We have tried every possible way around it, it looks like we will have to bite the bullet and move back in to pr I think.
  We will just have too see when it gets assessed what they say. But as for the lists I know it's not racist it just doesn't make sense too me, but we will find a solution. Thanks again for you replies
• DON'T move to private rental please. I'm hoping to come out of it.., do you want to risk having to move every 6 months or a year. You can get LL's who renew tenancy agreements for longer.., but there's no guarantee of this. Think of the disruption to your children's schooling, having to come up with a new deposit/months rent in advance, pay for removal costs, covering fees, and of course, your rent will be more.., could be a lot more. Both of my son's still have small rooms with just enough room for a bed, they share a wardrobe, and only can do this because my younger son has a cabin bed.
  Consider rehanging the doors so you can get two beds in one room (or even removing one, hanging a curtain). I can't understand how ceilings aren't high enough to allow bunk beds.., perhaps you could look at getting lower bunk beds. Your younger child doesn't absolutely have to have a full sized bed yet. I've built beds before now lol!
  Just give it six months. Learn more about how the HA operates, get your councillor or MP involved if needs be. They can often clear the dross when rules aren't clear.
  As I have said, I am in private rental, my LL refuses to do repairs, the electrics are awful, the boiler has the wrong mobo in it.., a temporary repair done a year ago.., he felt like he could 'pop' in and inspect at any time, making comments about my tidiness (at a time I had rolls of insulation in the living room cause I was having to insulate the loft - a job he refused to do - kids were so cold in the bedrooms). Four months ago he said he was selling the place so now I have the joy of him telling me to clean the front yard, do this, do that.., (all of which I'd do anyway) every time a viewing is to happen with no end in sight because he's trying to sell the house for too high a price. The house is always spotless as long as he gives me notice.
  So if I manage to get into social housing I shall kiss the ground. I know I will have to make compromises but private rental is far far worse. I'd compromise a lot for stable housing. There is worse than small bedrooms.
• Thanks for your replies. I have been in private rent for over 10 years before we took this house and I know the struggles of LL not fulfilling there obligations, and this decision is not one we are making lightly, honestly the bedrooms all measure 9ftx9ft and don not fit 2 toddler beds in never mind normal size beds. When we were upstairs In a bedroom we had to take the door off to fit the double bed in because we couldn't swing it on to the landing area as there isn't one. We have literally utilised every possible bit of space.
  It's just an unfortunate situation and every turn we take there seems to be more hurdles.
• Yes ask for a copy of their policies in writing. No point in speaking the people on the phone, they're often ill informed.
• Have you tried Homeswapper?