Living Situation

At Your Parent's

This one is awkward, but necessary. No one starts in their own home, it's just a matter of time and money really when trying to ease your way into your own space. Living by someone else's rules can be a drag, but having these boundaries in place can prompt you to think about what kind of house you would run and rules you may set. For example, I hate having a 'lights off/bedtime' which was enforced by my Mum on several occasions when I was far too old for it by switching off the wifi. No internet = no noise and not much to do except sleep. (This is a trick I will be using as a last resort in years to come, I am sure.)

As annoying as parents can be, they do look out for you, and provide for you. This is a bonus no other housing option has to offer. 

In A Hostel

You can be placed anywhere, without much say in the matter or much choice of even the general area (you can pick from 4 areas, and even then you could end up in any of them). It is a faster option if you are a high band (Band A being the highest priority and F being the lowest as I recall) but this doesn't mean squat if there is a shortage of housing or an influx of needy people.

However, the council will take care of a lot of handy things for you, like getting hold of a free white good for the kitchen (we have a fridge-freezer). This you will have to ask for, as we only found out about it because we had a floating support worker.

In A Council House
Slightly better than private rented in many ways, but also slightly lower on perks.

In Private-Rented
For us, this is the crem de la crem of the crop.

In Your Own Home
My parents live in their own home, and it definitely has more visible perks than a lot of the other options, but on the other hand they get no help with it - having to make sure money is saved to fix things (like the boiler, at the moment) and make sure everything is running smoothly. In our private-rented 2 bedroom house, we can just call up our Estate Agents and they get someone out to fix whatever problem we have with the house. My parents, on the other hand, would have to pay for this service.

On the flip side, they can decorate however they like and make drastic changes, like putting in a pond or having an extension. In all the other housing options we have listed, you simply cannot go round doing that!