Please help after 'the system' has failed us so many times

Hi, my name is Carl.

Those of you that know us will know my story, and many of you, will have already given us help & support in 1 way or another, but for those that do not know me or our current situation I will do my best to explain:

I am 48 yrs of age (soon 49) and I have full custody of my beautiful daughter Alissa (16).

We are both ADHD & Autistic and our dog pictured is our Emotional Support Animal (ESA) Dixie.

After being evicted from our private rent property in March 2024 (for reasons out of my control) We were placed in temporary accomodation in Stevenage by the local council (SBC) who I worked for at the time as a carpenter/multi trade.

We was not allowed to have our dog with us so she went to live temporarily with my partner at the time who she knew well.

I was not meant to stay out while residing in temporary accommodation but agreement was made that we could stay at my partners 1 night a week and my partner (who lived in Welwyn in a 1 bed flat with her young adult son) would bring Dixie (our ESA) over to Stevenage as much as she could for visits, but this obviously had a detrimental effect on both my daughters mental health, and mine.

Following an explosive break up with my partner at the wake of a close friend after he committed suicide, Dixie was forced back in to my care around midnight that evening.

Although no pets were allowed in temporary accomodation we were allowed a little grace for me to try and find somewhere for Dixie to reside while our homelessness case was assessed, however, I understandably struggled to find anywhere suitable for Dixie.

Dixie would have needed an established bond with anyone who would look after her, seeing as she had been raised since a puppy to be Emotional Support for both my daughter & myself after numerous (thankfully) failed suicide attempts from my daughter aswell as self harming after her mum passing her to me full time in 2020 due to not being able to cope with Alissas special needs and nearly a full year of little to no contact left Alissa feeling neglected by her own mother at just 10yrs old

Alissa and myself have faced many battles & struggles since 2020 but we face them together as self branded 'team Carlissa'

After struggling to find anywhere suitable for Dixie we was served eviction notice by SBC due to breach of tenancy that stated no pets and although I told SBC Dixie was an ESA so therefore seen as an Auxiliary Aid, SBC refused to accept this and went through with eviction process even before completing homelessness assessment

With help from an awesome social worker from SASH, who had only been referred to us a month or less before, we were referred to the Homeless Prevention Team (HPT) on behalf of children's services who offered brokerage temporary accomodation in Luton for both us, and Dixie, as HPT DID recognise Dixie as an ESA.

However, when we packed up the little we had with us to go to Luton (furniture & other belongings were in a storage unit for £400 pm) we arrived to find extreme fungal mould spores in the top corner of 1 room aswell as damp & mould throughout flat that had penetrated the mattresses

I was told I was not allowed to refuse but again, our epic social worker stepped up and HPT put up the 3 of us in a twin room with 2 single beds at Baldock Services hotel, not ideal, but not mouldy.

After 2 weeks in hotel room with no cooking or clothes washing facilities, eating predominantly take away food from services at extortionate prices, we were offered another brokerage temporary accomodation in Potters Bar, far away from family, social and support networks, but it was somewhere for us where we didn't have to share with anyone

Since being in Potters Bar and taking several months off work due to major depression I have now left employ of SBC ... how could I continue to represent a council professionally with full integrity when they put us on the streets!

As I write this we are still residing in the same brokerage temporary accomodation with HPT seemingly being useless at helping us back in to privately rented accomodation, let alone charging me £1396 pm just for rent and insisting I take on council tax & utility bills also ‍

So, here I am, setting up a begging page to reach out to the community and friends & family.

I own a car, but it is off the road currently as I can't afford to fix it, which means we have been immensely detached from friends & family aswell as social & support networks (Alissa is considered high risk with CAMHS and has had a very close suicide attempt while being here that had her in hospital for a number of days)

I, myself, battle suicidal thoughts nearly EVERY day, but I keep going for the sake of Alissa and help from Dixie, who always knows when we are down.

We have now been living in temporary accomodation for a whole year, with no furniture other than beds and not even wardrobes or drawers to keep clean clothes organised = we aren't 'living' here, just existing ‍

We desperately need to return to Stevenage ASAP so I'm swallowing my pride to ask for financial help to either get my car back on the road and/or raise money for depost/first months rent on a privately rented property that, at this moment in time I just can't afford.

I am not obligated to work, at least until Alissa leaves education, due to being sole carer, but I will find another job in good time, mainly to set the example to Alissa that we work for a living and good things mainly come to those who go out and earn it lol

Any & all help will be appreciated, no matter how small and I thankyou greatly even if you have just read this far