I will probably be homeless next month

I don't want to bore anyone with a long sob story, but I genuinely need help because I have looked everywhere. Before anyone tells me to contact a local council, I'm attending university in London, meanwhile my immediate family lives in Kent (I don't have any other family other than my mum and three siblings) and have done so for the past 5 years.

It's my second year of university and I was going to live in a flat share with two other girls in Hertfordshire. I'm already paying a company to be my guarantor and thought I would be able to find a job in the tiny town my family lives in to be able to pay first month's rent and the rest of my deposit. I have to pay those by tomorrow and I do not have the money. I tried loaning companies but they won't give me a loan because I don't have a steady income and my family can't afford to loan me £993.70. I tried to get accommodation with my university but they won't even put me on the waiting list, let alone let me apply for accommodation at a different campus (only one of the three have some spaces).

To cut it short, I can't pay first month's rent nor my deposit and I still have to travel to uni somehow, but I'd rather have a roof over my head than worry about if I'll be able to eat. I have tried EVERYTHING I possibly can, but if someone has any advice, as said earlier, please respond below.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Ana

This flat is nowhere near London.How is that going to work?You would be better off looking for a room nearer uni when your SFE comes in.You could try and commute in the mean time.Honestly how did you think this was a good plan?

The cost of commuting will cripple you Where is your uni in relation to this accommodation.?

Have you reached out to your uni to see if they are able to help through their emergency support fund(s)? Most (if not all) unis have specific emergency funds to facilitate short term loans for students at risk in these kinds of situations potentially. Worth reaching out to them. In terms of the uni accommodation, did you explain to them your housing crisis situation in relation to your request for accommodation consideration?

Aside from that, are your parents not able to act as your guarantor rather than this company? That might save money if so, in some capacity.

Also as noted, it sounds like that's quite a ways away from your uni unless it's somewhere on the outskirts of Greater London.

Just a thought Ana, but looking at your name, if you are Ukrainian then there are other sources of help such as the Red Cross.
If appropriate call 0808 196 3651 and select option 1 (Open Monday to Friday from 10am)

ana, i had no idea what to suggest to you, but i couldn’t ignore you either.
hope you don’t mind, i messaged this post to chatgpt and this is what it had to suggest:

- Speak with Your University
- Student Services
- Financial Aid Office
- Part-Time Work
- Community Support
- Roommate or Sublet
- Talk to Friends and Family
- Consider Alternative Housing
- Deferment or Leave of Absence

i’m not sure how helpful that is, but i think your best bet is to contact your university.
i really hope you don’t end up homeless, and that you find the help that you need.

This flat is nowhere near London.How is that going to work?You would be better off looking for a room nearer uni when your SFE comes in.You could try and commute in the mean time.Honestly how did you think this was a good plan?

Contact your student support services for help at University.
They may be able to give you a small loan or a small cash emergency payout.
As for work try to get work as a healthcare assistant.
This pays at least minimum wage and there is a shortage of workers.
Apply to local care homes for these roles.
Alternatively defer for one year your second year whilst you find work to provide for yourself.

Have you tried GoFundMe? It seems perfectly set up for this sort of situation.

The problem is that you have no easily identifiable way of repaying any loan that was made to you. If, for example, I was to say here you go here's a thousand pounds you can borrow from me to pay for the deposit and the first month's rent, how would you propose to repay me? How much could you afford and over what time period? What guarantees can you offer to prove that this is true story and not something that is being made up in order to try and scam somebody? It is a horrible indictment of the society in which we live, but these are all thoughts that will go through somebody's head when thinking about whether or not to lend you money as a stranger. And of course, it is a stranger that you need to provide the finance, because your friends and family are unable to.

No I haven’t tried a gofundme, I’d have no idea how to sort that out and of course no I understand why no one would lend me money let alone a company, I wouldn’t expect them to when I don’t have a stable income to guarantee that I’ll pay them back. My student finance comes in on 25th September, so I’d be able to pay someone back literally a couple of weeks later, I just need the money to pay the rest of the deposit and first month’s rent.

Hi thank you so much for replying, I did reach out to my university and they said that the waiting list for returning students opens on 12th September, so I will apply then because there’s nothing they can do in the mean time. My mum is a single mum, she isn’t a home owner nor does she make over £25,000 per annum, so she can’t be my guarantor and I don’t have anyone else in the country in terms of family members. Hertfordshire is right outside of London, so it takes me about an hour to get to university, which is less than what I had to travel from Kent (2 hours on a good day).

Guarantors stand in someone's stead to guarantee that if a borrower defaults that the debts are still repaid. This security makes it more likely that a lender will lend or that a landlord will rent.
With a commercial guarantor the premise remains the same but rather than it being a family member, for example, the business charges what is effectively an insurance premium.