The Black Dog Thread

[paddykafka]

Can't add much more than what other folk here have already said, TJM. Just hope you managed to pull yourself back from the darkness. Take care and all the best.

[sheridan]

So, not wanting to pry, but anybody got any response from TJM?

[Colin YNWA]

Sadly not yet for me.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Nor me I'm afraid

[JayzusB.Christ]

Has anyone heard from TJM?   It's very worrying. 

[Hawkmumbler]

Nothing, sadly.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Shite.  Really hope it's not what it sounds like.

[Proudhuff]

worrying news 

[paddykafka]

Well, my fear and concern re my housing situation would appear to have been justified.

The new landlord was around today - I was out when he arrived but was updated on events by a couple of the other tenants - and he  was talking about fire safety laws, and using that as an excuse to renovate the building. He said that he would be giving us six months notice, and after renovations he would be re-letting the house ( and increasing the rent, which in all likelihood will make it unaffordable for myself and those of us here.)

So much for my former landlord's assurances. Clearly, whatever contract is going to be signed between them isn't - as the saying goes - worth the paper it's written on.

So basically, I'm fucked.

I spent two months homeless before, and given the way things are now, the chances of my finding anywhere else to live are next to impossible. My already pre-existing depression and anxiety are through the roof now.

I would rather be dead than have to wind up in a fucking homeless shelter or hostel, with all the horror that entails. Some years ago, my uncle - a gentle and timid soul, with similar issues as myself - found himself in the same awful position. He ended up knocking back a bottle of whiskey and drowning himself in the Liffey.

I'm already beginning to think that it might be  time to join him.

[The Legendary Shark]

Don't begin to think that, PK.

When I lost my home and most of my stuff it was hard and depressing but also liberating. Now I live in a shed on the campsite where I work, surrounded by trees and nature. Honestly, I've never been happier even though I'm permanently skint. One lesson I learned is that the less stuff I have, the less stuff I need - because all that crap I used to own was actually owning me.

I'm not saying it's easy to live in a shed with very little money, but then It's by no means intolerable either. A way will present itself, you just have to look out for it.

[Funt Solo]

Am I bananas to suggest council housing as a solution? I realize I don't know your particular circumstances, or about local availability, or whether it's practical - but perhaps something to look into?

[Rara Avis]

Paddy if you are based in Ireland (which I think you are) you have my sympathies ; the housing market is impossible here.

You should be aware of your rights as a tenant; the landlord must serve you notice in writing and because you've lived there for 13 years he must give you no less than 224 days notice.

There's info here: https://www.rtb.ie/ending-a-tenancy/notices-of-termination

And you can contact Threshold if you need further assurances. I realise you're probably well aware of this but just in case.

[paddykafka]

Hi folks. Many thanks for your replies and just to take them in order.

RE Legendary Shark: Amongst my various possessions, the most valued and precious to me are my collection of books - numbering well over a thousand - and comics, graphic novels etc, of which there are well over three thousand. They are my literal comfort and security blanket from, and against, the world. Just being around them fills me with infinite pleasure, peace and a sense of calm and well-being. When you are a socially isolated, virtual recluse like me, that means so much, and without them I would feel truly and utterly broken. The very thought of losing them fills me with utter dread and despair!

RE Funt Solo: Yep, I've been on the council housing list for the last thirteen years. Based on my current position on the three Area Housing Lists within Dublin City, and extrapolating from the last time that I checked my placement two years ago, it will be, respectively 2, 2 & 3 years before I will even eligible to be considered for placement.

Despite my long-standing, clinically diagnosed conditions of Depression and Anxiety Disorder - as a result of which, I have been on Invalidity Pension for the last couple of years - I am not considered as a Medical Priority. And being a single, childless, middle-aged male, I am basically at the bottom of the pecking order. This was pretty much confirmed to me by a council official with whom I spoke to. And also a social worker who interviewed me in hospital, as I recovered from a suicide attempt, that was brought on by the stress incurred by the awful, five months of Anti-Social behaviour by two individuals here in the house, back in 2020. (And about which I have previously written of on the 2000AD forum.)

A Dublin City Councillor - who had said he would look into my situation - did not even afford me the simple courtesy of an acknowledgement when I filled him in on what had been happening at the time. Despite the email I sent him - which included a signed and dated letter & petition, from myself and the other tenants to the landlord, outlining what was going on at the time - I heard absolutely nothing back from him, and my phone calls and voice messages were equally ignored.

I enquired with another council official about the possibility of my being transferred to some other, say for example, rural county or council, and was told that I would just be put onto the end of their lists. My mental health conditions would also be a disadvantage when it comes to sourcing appropriate accommodation. I have personally seen what some of the council estates are like, and they ain't nice to say the least of it.

Not forgetting, that on account of my head-problems, I would be an immediate and obvious target for some of the more feral and unpleasant younger folk in those areas. I used to know a guy, with similar issues as myself, who was driven utterly and wholly demented for a couple of years by a number of such individuals. The abuse included daily insults and homophobic slurs, the word "Queer" daubed frequently upon the wall of his flat, and bricks being thrown through his window. He wasn't even gay! Just the fact that he was, in their eyes "different" was enough to make him a target. (The poor man's corpse was discovered on his couch, two days after he died from a heart-attack. I think that it is safe to say, that the constant stress he endured did not help him.)

RE Rara Avis: As you correctly surmised - and which my reply above shows - I am indeed in Ireland. "Impossible" is the mildest term I could think of to describe the housing situation in this country. I believe that the current, official homeless figure is edging towards 11,000 (and that doesn't even include the many who are couch-surfing, forced to live in cars, back with their parents etc). So between that and the ever-spiralling rental costs - which is pushing many of those, who, like myself, are dependent on Rent Supplement or the Housing Assistance Payment out of the market - the chances of finding somewhere to live are pretty much zero.

Thanks for that info from Threshold. Alas, I doubt that will make any difference to the amoral sociopath who  has taken over as the new landlord. He has already been fined by the Residential Tenancy Board, on account of his previous illegal eviction of another tenant from a different property (which he also bought from our former landlord). He has made his contempt for the RTB abundantly clear, and most likely will already have factored any other potential fines as simply part of the business.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, that he will do all that he can to make life as unpleasant as possible for myself and the other sitting tenants here. And in any event, all that he has to do is raise our current rents to such unsustainable levels that we will simply not be able to afford them. Quite frankly, he is a thoroughly unpleasant individual, who sees us all as nothing but impediments to his avarice. And with the distressing physical ill-health I am currently experiencing - and have been for the last few months - allied with my various head problems, I'm honestly not sure that I would be able to cope.

I will certainly look into getting legal advice from the likes of Threshold etc. But things being what they are, the future is looking, to say the least of it, unpleasant and uncertain. Forgive me if I've rambled on a bit. I haven't slept at all since yesterday, and two bouts of internal bleeding - which I suffered as a direct physiological reaction, within thirty minutes of getting the bad news - have left me a bit all-at-sea.

Thanks again to you all for your kindness and support. It is much appreciated.

[paddykafka]

Apols for the double post but just to clarify re the Dublin City Council, if there was suitable accommodation in a safe, quiet environment I would happily avail of it. But things being what they are, there is no guarantee on that front, when and if ever such a place became available.

Thanks again and cheers.

[Proudhuff]

Christ Paddy sorry to hear that, I'm hoping you get some sort of relief from all that, sounds horrendous.