Grace L
Hastings Borough Council (HBC) is being asked to review how they support disabled residents into suitable accommodation, after a disabled woman revealed she has been in temporary accommodation for three years that has no wheelchair access onto the street. She is now being moved to another property where she won’t even be able to get out through the front door without assistance.
Sophie smiled patiently as I asked her to pose for a photo on her windowsill. This is the main place she goes to escape the isolation of the temporary one-bed flat she’s been living in for the past three years.
The two steps from her front door down to the path, that would allow her to travel to the park or into town independently, might as well be a cliff edge – her severe rheumatoid arthritis means that she can only get down onto the path and into her wheelchair with somebody else to help her. In practice that means she is funded to have a carer take her out for a brief trip just a few times a week.
Still she is cheerful and positive about this perch to watch the world go by and the joy she gets from going into her back garden to let her unsteady feet just feel the earth. She spent most of her life working outdoors – “i only went inside to sleep and eat” – and has a horror of being confined indoors, so the last few years of declining mobility have had a heavy toll on her.
She first became homeless three years ago when the progression of her disabling condition made it impossible to continue living in her flat which had steep stairs. She hadn’t been in Hastings long, and none of her family live nearby, so the combination of her declining health and her unsuitable housing meant she hasn’t been able to get out much or build up a support network.
Now she is absolutely terrified of becoming completely trapped in her new home because she won’t even be able to get outside the front door on her own.
The communal entrance to the new property has a heavy fire door and a steep step that she can’t manage independently. This property should simply never have been offered to Sophie and the reality is that Sophie would never have accepted it if she hadn’t been frightened by a letter from HBC threatening to revoke any housing duty towards her at all if she turned it down.
“It was so stressful” she said, “trying to pretend that it was ok. But it will be like being in prison”.
The local branch of Unite the Union has written to HBC calling for them to take action immediately, not just for Sophie, but for all disabled tenants who could face similar treatment.
They state that “The new property needs to be assessed properly to establish if sufficient modifications can be made to enable Sophie to leave the property safely and independently. If they can’t then she needs to be urgently offered suitable alternative accommodation.”
But more than that Unite is calling for an internal review to be carried out into why Sophie was offered unsuitable properties in the first place and why she was sent a threatening letter “which prevented her from voicing her needs and deeply impacted her mental health”.
Kev Towner, the disability officer with Hastings Trades Council told Hex, “This situation is unacceptable and should never have happened. Whilst it is usual for applicants for social housing to be offered no more than three options before the Council withdraws its obligation to house them, if none of the properties are accessible (and therefore suitable) the rule does not apply. This is a contravention of her human rights.”
Hex will follow the progression of Sophie’s case. Local campaigners, including members of Unite and Acorn community union, have committed to supporting her until she is offered a suitable home.