Mother of disabled children ‘clueless’ after being stuck in unsuitable accommodation for years

A mother of four – including two severely disabled children – has been trapped in unsuitable accommodation, even after a court order on Haringey Council to move her.

Haringey Council was ordered to move Mary (who wished to use a different name to protect her identity) under the Housing Act 1996 by 14th July, but, two months later, suitable accommodation has still not been found.

Mary says she has been stuck in a series of unsuitable properties over the course of 15 years, including “roach infested” houses, homes with “rats the size of kittens”, and flats that pose health hazards to her two autistic children, such as unsecured windows.

The current property she is living in was deemed unsuitable by the High Court of Justice at a hearing on 22nd June for the reason that her eldest son was assaulted in August 2022 – and the location she is living in continues to pose a risk to her four children.

Mary told HCP: “My son was attacked by a group of four boys. He ended up with a broken eye socket […] He has a metal plate in his head.

“My son has lost the feeling on the right side of his face. He’s only 18 years old.

“The whole situation is causing a lot of strain on the family.”

Mary has been living in her current accommodation since 2021, when the council discharged her into the private sector and ended their homeless duties, meaning she was removed from the waitlist for social housing. She had been living in various temporary accommodations (TAs) under homeless duties since 2015.

She says when she was made the offer of accommodation and expressed her concerns around threats made towards her son, the council threatened her with social services.

Mary said: “Everyone was saying, if you don’t accept then you do the review [challenging the council decision] and fail then there’s a risk of you being homeless.

“The same people who offered me the property are the ones who do the reviews. Haringey, from my experience, is somewhat corrupt. So once they say something, even when you think there is a system or a way to go around getting it rectified, it still gets nowhere.”

Mary says that when her banding review was completed (which could potentially help make her case on the housing register more urgent), they assessed her case as if she were still living at an old property, rather than her current – despite the council themselves being responsible for moving her to both.

“They obviously know I don’t live there,” Mary said. “They’re the ones who gave me this property. I didn’t just pop out of the blue.

“They did not consider the risk of violence, nothing of the sort, not my circumstances at present, nothing like that.

“And even up till now, at present, I’m yet to get a response or an actual review.”

In November 2022 following the attack on her son, the council finally reaccepted Mary’s main housing duty – but has still failed to move her.

Before hiring a solicitor and taking her case to court, Mary says she had already written to the ward councillor to explain her situation and “pretty much everyone – and I got nowhere”. Haringey Housing Action Group (HHAG) also wrote letters on her behalf, which they say were ignored.

Mary said that now “they are not making properties available for me, so I’m just stuck.”

Further, the council has made two property offers, but one has been the accommodation in which she currently resides – just reclassed: “They offered me the private property back as a temporary accommodation.

“They were trying to argue the fact that there was no violent involvement.”

The other property is in Bromley. Mary said: “I have kids with special needs that require an outdoor secure area. It’s obviously an hour and a half journey to my son’s school, my son goes to special needs and is getting help and support in the borough. He goes to school by specialist school transport.”

In a phone call last month with a reviewing officer, Mary was told that her “expectations are too high”.

“He was asking: ‘Why did I come to Haringey? […] Why don’t I go out of London?’”

Mary added: “Why am I being treated like this?

“I’ve been saying it for years – I feel like I’m being profiled. I’ve done everything by the books.”

Mary says she has been left “clueless” after a decade of the council failing to move her to suitable accommodation.

Mary said: “Haringey put me in a roach-infested house, they did not come and look at me until one year [and] four
months. I said to them, there are roaches in the house and there’s rat traps in the house.”

At another property she resided in for five and a half years, Mary says the council asked to spread roach poison throughout the house: “I had special needs kids picking at things, eating everything.

“It’s really, really draining.

“It’s my home, I can’t run away from it.”

Sarah Williams, cabinet member for housing services, private renters and planning, said: “We fully understand and appreciate the concerns expressed by the resident and regret the delay in the family being rehoused. We received more than 4,000 homelessness requests last year, one of the highest in London, yet there is a chronic shortage of family-sized accommodation available, in Haringey and across the capital. The council has made an offer of a three-bedroom flat in Bromley, which will remain available to the family. The family has refused this accommodation and
asked the council to review its suitability, which it is currently undertaking.”