Advice on how to proceed re council housing for disability

hattoncracker

Hi there.

Just wondering if you could give me some advice.

My husband has been a civil servant for the last 26 years. He was diagnosed with MS in 2007. He has continued to work ever since but unfortunately his condition has progressed to the point that he is unable to work anymore, which is really heartbreaking as he has worked every day of his life since he was 15.

He does own a house jointly with his ex wife in dublin however she lives there with his 2 sons and the house cannot be sold until the youngest turns 23 or finishes his third level education. (He will be starting college next month). He also pays maintenance. As per the divorce agreement he will get 40% of the value when this is done. The house is a 2 bed terraced and is not suitable for his needs.

We currently privately rent and I still work full time. The house we rent is a bungalow but it still has steps to the door so he is effectively housebound unless I'm there.

I am on a fairly low wage (24k) and commute to Dublin, and he was on a higher one and is still getting his sick pay however we are in the process of organising his retirement due to disability. We currently rent in Co Louth and I was wondering if there are any steps I should be taking with regards to organising housing for us? We don't know if he will get a full pension or anything yet and i am worried about what we will do as I won't be able to afford the rent and maintenance and all other costs alone, especially as his income will be reduced. We are both very worried about this and it is negatively affecting his health so id love some guidance.

Thank you in advance.

Gatling

You might not be able to get on to the list at all ,
Just going by your income + his pension or other payments may put you's over the income limit for social housing ,
And that's before you take into account ownership of a property ,
Two things I'd be looking at first is while means and ownership of property might rule you's out you may be able to look into compassionate grounds ,
You could seek legal advice about his maintenance to his ex wife ,id be querying a variance order for the current maintenance due to your partner having poor health ,(might be question for the legal forum)

In the meantime I'd be asking your current landlord for permission to put a temporary ramp at the house so he can come and go a bit easier and speak to any MS support groups to see if they can shed some light on the housing situation.