I have recently found myself in a desperate situation. I lost my job and like many in the UK I had to, for the first time, go through the process of requesting help from the government so I can continue to live. 

Now I wasn't expecting much, just enough to cover my rent and the bare minimum so I could eat. This is when I found out about the rules for Local Housing Allowance on Universal Credit. The rules state that if you're under 35, single, have no kids and are not receiving PIP (Personal Independence Payment) the maximum amount of help you can get is an amount which is (quite honestly less than) the amount the council works out a room in a shared property would cost. This means that my full payment of Universal Credit, which should cover housing and living, does in fact not even cover my housing costs.

Now, I don't qualify for PIP and I really don't see a reason why I should - I can move and do most things without the help of others - but I do have another issue which makes it really hard for me to share a house with others. I have a series of mental health disorders including severe anxiety and depression and I fight an ongoing battle with self-harm and suicidal tendencies which stem from being a survivor of child sexual and physical abuse.

Now I know, we all have our issues to face and at some point we need to move on. And I have really tried. Last year I lived with an elderly couple because I thought that maybe that would ease me into it - the result was that i ended up not eating for days because I felt too anxious, my weight at one point dropped by 10kg in the space of 1 month and by the time I left my mental health was so poor that I had to spend months rebuilding myself up. 

This is just my story, I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of others who have lived through things which make it rather difficult for them to share their space. Hence, I think this system needs to be reviewed urgently because we are putting already vulnerable people at an even greater risk.