Written evidence submitted by Ms Helen Joberns [HOL 163]
This submission may be too late. Unfortunately, being homeless has affected me emotionally and I could not write this sooner because of the stress it would create.
Background:
This family consists of me, a single mother, a 20 year old son, a ten year old son. We are a vulnerable family. I have just been diagnosed with ASD, my older son was diagnosed with ASD when 11 and dyspraxia, my younger son diagnosed with ASD last year. My older son and I are also (waiting for appt, could be a year or more) awaiting assessments for ADHD and anxiety.
We lived in Wolverhampton. My older son, then 14 was in a school that refused to meet his needs, long periods of school refusal, bullying (was strangled twice by peers) and incredibly unhappy. I tried every alternative school in the area and even with the assistance of the Education Welfare Office was unable to find a school willing to take a child with special needs. I was becoming more and more depressed. I was living In a place I’d returned to after an abortive stay in a refuge to find neighbours had stolen anything not tied down. Felt fairly unsafe there.
So I turned to my ex, with whom I’d had an abusive relationship. No where else to go. Visited him, visited schools, found one that would take my older son and even provide him with a laptop to use (he couldn’t write due to the dyspraxia). Completely open school so few hidden places for bullying to happen. If my son was happier, I’d be happier. This was in Gravesend. I tried to get housing help but as I’d got a council place I ‘could’ go back to (the council would not accept my ‘safety’ reasons for leaving, nor the needs of my son) I was warned I’d be found voluntarily homeless. I was offered emergency housing while this was assessed though. I didn’t know to seek legal help, I tried charities but they said the council was correct.
The Housing Manager gave me the number of a LL who had someone moving into a council property but was tied to a year TA. I phoned him that day and moved into the house later in the week. By this time I had the HM telling me daily that I HAD to find somewhere to live (I went to LA’s every single day, asked everywhere I could think of, to no avail). I was given a loan to pay the deposit and months rent in advance.
Then I discovered I had a LL (recommended by council remember) who refused to do any repairs at all. If I insisted like I did with a front door problem, he sent me notice by text, not just once. Anytime I wouldn’t do what he wanted, he threatened giving me notice. The house was damp, with dodgy electrics, a boiler with the wrong circuit board in it that broke frequently, blown drafty windows, warped and cracked flooring, torn stair carpet, the roof fell in at one point. I retiled and replaced the bathroom myself because it was covered in mould. The LL said it was perfectly OK as it was! It was very very stressful living there and added to the mental health problems I already had. At times I was on the verge of suicide. I am only still here because I know life for my sons would be far worse if I wasn’t here fighting for them. The council were of no help whatsoever. Environmental Health sent a letter to the LL vaguely listing the problems (didn’t visit) which meant I had a very angry LL on the phone insisting I withdraw my complaint otherwise he’d evict me.., again.
The LL put the rent up a few times, but it was still slightly below market rates. However, in the end it was £850 a month, LHA was £750 a month, so I was having to top it up. It was going to get worse, the LL wanted more rent. Normal rents for a 3 bed were a minimum of £950. The LL said he was going to sell or put the rent up for 18 months, he asked me to decorate the house so he could get a LL interested in the place. I did even though I had health problems that made this painful and difficult. Of course, there were very few LL’s doing viewings. But as time went on, the LL became more certain he wanted to sell rather than rent, and wanted to start eviction proceedings. So I went to the council for housing help, while the LL went through eviction process.
My first meeting the Housing Manager told me I might be viewed as making myself intentionally homeless as I’d moved out of a council house in Wolverhampton to move into the private rental. I’d lived there four years (in the private rental), it was hardly unstable circumstances.., but having been told this, it was a severe downer. I became very suicidal, convinced we’d be on the streets. Not a single LA would take me on (in spite of always paying rent on time and keeping the place looking as nice as I could) because I was a benefit recipient – tenancies are in high demand in a town just outside London.
By this time, my older son (now 19) had a social worker, we had other social worker involvement, we had letters proving need from the people who made the ASD assessments plus lots of other letters of support from other professionals. I sought help from Housing/disability charities but no one seemed to have the level of expertise we needed (to ensure Housing did what they were supposed to) so Housing could do, and did do, what they liked.
Because of the stress of the upcoming eviction (which I had to pay the legal costs for but the council would not help until we were actually on the streets so I had to) my mental health suffered, my heart problems got worse (my blood pressure medication was doubled – I had an MI two years before) my diabetes got worse (became very unstable, ambulances had to be called numerous times in spite of my best efforts to control it, my sensitivity to insulin went up and down with no warning), my asthma got worse (steroid dose increased, 2 hospital admissions), and my arthritis was worse (which made doing anything quite painful, took me weeks to pack as I had to do it slowly).
My son’s social worker said that with other councils in Kent, the evidence she’d submitted would have given us an A or B priority. Because we were still in the private rental, we were D priority. I was told by the council officer, even when I read Graveshams reassessment policy out to him (which I asked for, to be reassessed based on need) that he was sure I knew housing policy better than he did but as we were housed right now, we could only be D priority, and when homeless we could only be C priority.
When I contacted our MP, Adam Holloway, I was told he could not interfere with local Housing Policy (he did make some kind of enquiry with the Assistant Director of Housing which resulted in a long scripted and meaningless reply), and I was also told by my MP the country could not afford families like ours. He refused to meet me in surgery, said he did better communicating by email. The Houses of Parliament are 12 miles away – 16 mins by train lol? Did no one understand that I was ‘working’ looking after my children through sleepless night after sleepless night, dealing with their schooling issues (at this time my older son was NEET as the college he’d gone to said they couldn’t support him and without support he couldn’t continue – he kept collapsing in class due to stress). My younger son was starting to suffer school refusal too. I was doing my absolute best to support them, keep them together.., avoid the high costs of putting them in care. I had an Early Intervention Social Worker, who I called, come round, saying I HAD to find a private rental elsewhere as Gravesend could put me in B&B anywhere (fortunately this is not a policy Gravesham follows so she was wrong on that as well). She seemed to miss that I had two boys with ASD.., how was I supposed to drag them around an unknown place, trying to find an LA or LL who’d take a benefit recipient with them collapsing (which happened, they have this autistic trait) because we were in a place they didn’t know, and neither of them travel well? I didn’t see her again. If such a thing had been even slightly workable, of course I would have done it. But I am a single mum, no help, no one to look after the kids while I drift off from place to place to find somewhere to live!
Gravesham put families in hostels or shared lettings which although local, would not be suitable for my sons. MY HO told me I needed to make a case to prove shared lettings would harm the health of the family. I wrote a six page bullet pointed letter – took days to write. Then I was told (and only then) they’d only accept evidence from professionals. Fortunately I did have this and made sure it was all sent in. But I didn’t hear what had been decided.
By the time of the eviction, I’d had weeks of stress. The week before I wrote to my Housing Office begging for information, a planned move (to make it easier for my sons who don’t deal with change too well), anything. I received an email saying that I should try to find a private rental, the council would give me a loan for the equivalent of LHA which the HO had already told me was way below the average rent of £1k a month. So he knew the email was meaningless. But it still reduced me to tears of hopelessness. How can they play games like this?
I was evicted at 10.30. I was given a housing appointment of 3pm. So I was supposed to wander the streets for that time. When I went into housing, without any explanation at all, I was told to sign a licence agreement and handed keys. I sat there in shock. Five mins earlier, I didn’t even know what or if anything would be given to me. Apparently I could have gone in earlier, the HO had tried to phone my old house number (the house I’d been evicted from) not my mobile! Unbelievable.
I didn’t hear a single thing the HO said, I was too shocked.
Went to the maisonette. It was a two bed maisonette so we were very lucky, it wasn’t a single room. And it was in Gravesend. Very lucky.
But it had cockroaches and I then had three weeks of hell trying to get the gas connected – it was January so very cold. The first day we didn’t have electricity, no lights til 9pm because that had to be sorted – giving me the maisonette so late while I frantically tried to sort out what I needed to do to get gas and electric connected was awful. My kids were terrified sitting in the dark (I did get candles but they weren’t enough, then the children were frightened of fire risks).
Then I discovered the cockroaches. Turned out the place had been empty a month, and fumigated a month ago (according to the fumigator who came round). So I could have had the property well before the bailiffs came round. It took another two months to eliminate the cockroaches. Two months of using sprays on the cockroaches, cleaning constantly, unable to unpack the kitchen because I had limited sealed storage for food. I was admitted to hospital again because of the asthma. Lots of ambulance call outs for diabetes and asthma (I also got a really bad chest infection).
Now I am C priority, keep saying, look, how can this family with special needs be the same priority as anyone else who is homeless.., but no one is listening. We will be here for 2-4 years. With an electric meter up three flights of stairs I can’t always manage.
BUT we are lucky, its not one room, but it is a home. Its just not very permanent and makes you wonder all the time, should I bring all my furniture here? How long will we be here for? When will we get a permanent house, where will it be?