Are the council taking the proverbial with repair?

I really feel for you and can appreciate what a tough time you’re having atm. My ex was military & I once spent a year in a hellhole of a posting. Was miles from anywhere & didn’t drive. Had to get bus to get eldest to Nursery & was constantly hanging around for the return one with a toddler (incl 45 mins after Nursery with both of them tired & fed up!). Had to give up my job because I’d tried to transfer but was impossible with bus times. Was such an incredibly tough time for me mentally but I knew it was only for a year. Hopefully for you it will be a lot less than that. In all honesty I really don’t see what more the housing can do. They had to move you for your own safety & unfortunately it seems to be a bigger job than they anticipated hence the delays but at least they are fixing it properly instead of doing a bodge job & then you & your kids will be able to move back in the knowledge that the issue is resolved. I’m not trying to minimise what you’re going through because I understand how tough it is but you’ve done the right thing & reached out for help & I really don’t see how much more the housing can do. Just keep on top of them, maybe give them a call weekly or every other week to see what progress is being made. It may help you feel like the end is in sight if you can hear they are getting somewhere.

Hiya, sounds like a stressful situation! My heart goes out to you and your kids. Unfortunately there isn’t a simple answer, there isn’t enough housing to meet the demand.

For me I managed to save up enough money for a deposit and first months rent on a flat (took ages but I was determined lol) and worked whilst topping up my income with UC, it’s still hard to find somewhere to live as a lot of landlords don’t like to take people on UC even if you are working.

The advantage of not being in a council property is that a landlord is way better at fixing issues quickly (but with what I could afford there were still sacrifices and not an ideal living situation). I know a lot of people do this and it’s often one parent with at least one child in the room with them, potentially more, or mum goes on the sofa and the kids have the room but usually privately rented housing is to of a better standard

If it is possible for you to put any money away I would do it if I were you but unfortunately I’m not sure you have much of a leg to stand on :( you could always call CAB though just to check where you stand, I just don’t want to get your hopes up

I really hope everything works out and your daughter settles

As someone else has mentioned, local authority wheels move slowly. They are dealing with multiple different contractors and likely have a huge backlog for the work so if a settled home with speedy repairs is a priority for you then private rent is the way forward. The council aren't obligated to provide you with anything other than the flat would be my honest understanding, are you not at risk of losing the property entirely if you make this about time frames and stability? Surely they could just say "OK, we will house you permanently in the flat then...problem solved". I'm not being intentionally cruel, its just that I see a lot of posts from people in worse situations who are still on the lists for a house and not likely to progress. Unfortunately you can also get bad neighbours anywhere so the weed smoking in the halls etc, whilst awful, isn't going to justify a move either I wouldn't imagine. I live next door to a council property (attached semi) and we get weed smoke in our house coming through the walls/floors...we like our neighbours, they seem like nice people, we hate the smoke but it is what it is and we own ours so the problems don't just exist in blocks of flats. I'd try and get stable where you are and accept that you may be in this for the long haul but at least you have it to go back to eventually. Fingers crossed it gets a bit swifter for you.