Wny did James not claim benefits?
I dont get why he did not try too
shareMaybe he did but it wasn't mentioned in the movie or maybe he didn't. Largely irrelevant either way!
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MovieChat Forums > A Street Cat Named Bob (2016) Discussion > Wny did James not claim benefits?
he writes in the book that he found it difficult to get work when he came back to England. He worked as a bartender for a while, but they sacked him but told the dole office he had left of his own accord, which meant he wasn't entitled to benefits. he had been stsying with his older half sister and her husband, but he didn't get on with his brother in law, and eventually they kicked him out. he didn't get on with his father, who he barely knew (he went to Australia with his mother at the age of six, not eleven as claimed in the film). He stayed with various friends for a while, then as he wrote 'when i ran out of floors I moved to the streets'. after a year he was picked up off the streets by a homeless charity, and then for several years lived in hostels and B & Bs, while addicted to drugs. Then when he was trying to come off the drugs they got him the flat in Tottenham, 'an ordinary apartment block full of ordinary families.' he started busking in Covent Garden 'to help pay the rent' as he says, but whether by then he was also getting some kind of benefit as well he doesn't say. But I imagine the flat would be very cheap. When he paid for Bob's medication the first time he took him to the vet it came to £22 'a day's wages for me' as he says. So even if he was busking 7 days a week he would only make about £150 a week. So he may have been getting some sort of benefit on top of that, but doesn't say.
shareThanks - that's helpful but I don't know why you would imagine that a flat in central London (of any type) would be "very cheap". Did you miss out the word "not"?
shareI can't imagine that either. I'm pretty sure he had some sort of benefits or else I don't think he would have been able to pay his rent.
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul.
it's a flat for people at risk of homelessness. i doubt they charge huge amounts of rent for that kind of accomodation, otherwise it wouldn't be of much help to the homeless.
shareYes, but I don't think he would have been able to pay any rent if he didn't have benefits. If they are going to get him an apartment they are probably going to make sure he can pay the rent as well.
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul.
The apartment is part of the benefits. IIRC it was an arrangement with a social services agency, although my memory's fuzzy because I read the book a while ago.
Pretty sure there were the usual conditions on keeping the apartment -- stay sober, submit to regular drug tests, keep his job selling The Big Issue, attend therapy, that sort of thing.
So IIRC the arrangement kept his rent low as long as he kept doing well and off drugs.
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As is made clear in both the book and the film, the flat james is in is provided for people at risk of homelessness, therefore i would imagine the rent is kept low. if the tenants were able to pay alot of rent, they wouldn't be at risk of homelessness. providing a flat for people in that vulnerable situation and then charging them a lot of rent would rather defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? And it's in Tottenham, one of the most deprived areas of London.
shareEither they can afford it, which James plainly couldn't, or they get housing benefit. There's a Daily Mail article (not that I believe much I read there) that says his rent was over £100 a week. Maybe you don't think that's very much.
shareit's not much in London, no. My son is currently paying £875 a month for a studio flat, about £200 a week.
shareI somehow imagine it being quite low. It was slightly in a state of ill-repair for a start. Also I am sure Social Services helped out a lot. When he took up the tenancy he had been furnished with a sofa (albeit second-hand), a basic coffee table and other things such as a microwave oven - items he would not have been able to afford. They were in there when he first arrived. Council properties and HA rentals are generally unfurnished - aside from carpets which frankly are usually only worthy of ripping up and replacing but James would have been grateful just to have a roof over his head and unconcerned about such trivial details. I was made up for him when he got that flat.
"These days you have to boil someone before you can sleep with them"
In the book he describes it as 'sheltered accomodation'. That means it is specifically intended for vulnerable people - most often it refers to accomodation for the elderly, but it can mean people with other problems, like disabilities of various kinds or in james's case being a recovering drug addict. rents will be low, and people can get housing benefit to help with the rent.
shareWell ordinarily, a claimant has to be in receipt of either JSA, ESA or PiP in order to qualify for HB. But maybe there are exceptions for such cases.
"These days you have to boil someone before you can sleep with them"
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