Homeless Mum's Fear Over Eastbourne Fourth Floor Flat

A disabled and homeless mother feared having nowhere to live after being offered an unsuitable flat nearly 20 miles from her support network.

Zoe McBride, 28, who suffers from chronic back problems and has an 11-week-old baby, was offered a move to Eastbourne.

However, once the Local Democracy Reporting Service raised the issue with Brighton and Hove City Council, a more appropriate place was found.

She sought help from the council seven months ago after fleeing an abusive former partner in Bristol who was harassing her.

Miss McBride used to live in Hove and returned to the area because her friends and wider support network were here.

She is also autistic, with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

After months of sofa-surfing with friends, renting short-term holiday lets and spending nights in hotels, the council offered her a place in a hostel, with support, in Brighton, on Thursday 28 September.

She spent four hours in the housing office filling in forms at the end of last month.

Then she was told that, rather than the hostel, the council was sending her to a fourth-floor flat in a block in Eastbourne that it used as emergency housing.

She said:

“I thought I was going to get a place when I was pregnant. I’ve had a Victim Support worker helping me as well.

“I was offered the emergency place in Eastbourne and they said if I don’t accept it, then they’re not going to help me any more.

“But I’ve got the letter from the doctors saying I need to be here for breastfeeding support. My daughter’s not been gaining weight because she has tongue tie – and I need the support.”

Her search for a private rented flat failed as nowhere would accept her benefit payments. Even with a guarantor, Miss McBride said that she faced competition from scores of other people desperate for housing.

Arch Healthcare, which provides general practice (GP) and other health services to homeless people, sent a letter to the council’s housing department describing her as “in need” of housing in the city.

The letter said: “This patient’s circumstances, viewed in entirety, mean that she will be significantly more vulnerable as a result of being rendered homeless as compared to the average person if made homeless.”

The letter also said that she had friends and support networks, including breastfeeding support, and was under the peri-natal mental health team locally.

A friend drove Miss McBride to see the flat in Eastbourne because she could not manage the journey on public transport with her belongings.

She saw 15 concrete steps leading up to the door, which would restrict her access, in addition to the four flights of stairs inside.

Miss McBride said:

“I have mobility issues, which they (the council) were aware of. The rooms also didn’t have working smoke alarms and the shower didn’t work either so I couldn’t wash myself or my baby and that’s a sanitation issue.

“After I’d seen it, I didn’t stay there but came back to Brighton and booked another Airbnb but now I’m getting into debt just to provide a safe place for me and my baby.”

When Miss McBride told the council that the Eastbourne flat was physically inaccessible and unsafe, the housing department emailed to say that it would not offer any more accommodation if she turned it down.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted Brighton and Hove City Council and the Labour council leader Bella Sankey responded, saying that Miss McBride could stay in the area.

Councillor Sankey said:

“We’re now able to make Ms McBride an offer of alternative accommodation in Brighton and Hove.

“There is an acute shortage of affordable accommodation which means we cannot always accommodate people within our city.

“However, given Ms McBride’s circumstances, we have been able to find suitable accommodation for her and her baby in Brighton and Hove.”

During the past month, members of the council’s Housing and New Homes Committee have highlighted the demand for privately rented housing and said that rent controls were needed.

At the council’s Strategy, Finance and Sustainability Committee meeting last week, housing boss Rachel Sharpe set out the scale of the problem.

She told councillors that the number of households presenting as homeless had more than doubled to about 50 a week in the past month, adding to pressure on the emergency and temporary housing budgets.