Haringey Council to evict a woman and her 14-year-old daughter

M is a Haringey resident.  She is due to be evicted by the council this Tuesday (10 November).   When she came to our meeting last week, she told us that the council want to evict her because of rent arrears, despite the fact that she has already put a plan in place to pay her arrears off, and has been steadily paying them off since earlier this year.

Because M made a verbal agreement with the council to pay off her arrears, and because she has followed that agreement completely, we think it would be utterly unreasonable for Haringey Council to evict her. It would also cause considerable hardship to her and her daughter, not only putting them through the stress of an eviction, but effectively forcing the family off the council’s waiting list and denying them the permanent home they have been waiting for for over a decade.

M is currently living in temporary accommodation – she is there because she applied to the council as homeless and the council accepted a duty to house her, placing her in temporary accommodation until permanent housing became available. Despite the name, there’s nothing temporary about it. Due to the incredible scarcity of council housing, families usually wait several years to move; M has been in temporary accommodation for 11 years.

By evicting her, Haringey Council may permanently damage M and her daughter’s access to suitable, affordable and secure housing. Due to M’s rent arrears they may find her ‘intentionally homeless’, saying that she caused this homelessness herself by falling behind on rent.  They may then refuse to house her at all.

It will also mean that M will no longer be eligible for the permanent home she and her daughter have waited for, and been entitled to, since 2004. They should never have been waiting this long: temporary housing should be temporary, not semi-permanent.

We want to know why Haringey Council is trying to evict a woman and her child when she has already proactively made  a verbal agreement to pay what she owes. We want to know why they’re trying to evict her when she has followed the agreed repayment plan. We want to know why they’re trying to evict her when she is so close to securing a permanent tenancy for a council or housing association property.

Please support M in standing up to Haringey Council by sharing this article and publicising her case.  You can also share your feelings about the council (via Twitter – @haringeycouncil).

November 10, 2015  Tags: , ,   Posted in: HHAG ACTIONS