20 Mar 2023
Little did Mandy Gray realise that days after saying a final farewell to her beloved mother she would be facing the prospect of bidding goodbye to her home of 56 years.
Council bosses want to move the disabled tenant out of her modified two-bedroom house in Howland Garth and into a one-bedroom flat to ease demands on their property portfolio.
Mandy, 61, has osteoarthritis in her knees, hips and spine, and has made various improvements to the property to meet her needs, including a wet room, stairlift and grab rails.
She feels she hasn’t been given time to grieve her mother before being told to move.
Her appeal has been declined and she says she is now in mental torment as she feels victimised at an extremely vulnerable time.
“I am very attached to this property having spent all but the first few years of my life there and it would be a serious wrench to move.
“Now that my mother has passed away I have no family, and as many of my neighbours have lived in their homes a long time they form my support network.”
A keen gardener, she will also lose access to the garden she has nurtured for decades, including her greenhouse, plants and trees, and where her cats have been buried over the years.
With a hip replacement operation due soon, she fears not having her friends around her in a new property will make her recovery even more difficult.
“The thought of having to leave has made me feel very anxious and low. I am worried that I will not be able to cope. It is particularly difficult having to deal with this when my mother has just passed away.”
Mandy highlighted how a neighbour in another two-bedroom property in Howland Garth was allowed to take on his parents’ tenancy following their death despite not being disabled, and said she feels she has been singled out by being ordered to move.
In a worst case scenario, she has begged the council to give her the time she needs to grieve her mother and recover from her surgery before relocating her elsewhere.
Because she does not have her own email account or access to the internet, she is also unsure how she can trawl through potential homes on the council’s website.
Her case has been picked up by St Albans MP Daisy Cooper, who told her: “I do understand why it is upsetting for you to have to move from your home of 56 years, having recently lost your mum. This is especially the case when you have a support network around you in your neighbours and the property is already adapted to your needs.
“I have written to the council to ask if your case can be considered an exception and asked about why other residents have been able to succeed properties previously without the need to downsize.”
Chris Traill, SADC strategic director for community and place delivery said: “One of our housing officers has been talking regularly to the occupant of the Howland Garth home to explain what is happening and deal with any concerns she has.
“We are aware she has lived in this two-bedroom house for many years with the tenant, a close family member.
“She is entitled to take over the tenancy, but is required under our policy on succession to downsize to a one-bedroom property.
“She appealed and put her case forward to a Housing Review Panel which upheld our decision because of the acute shortage of family-sized social housing in the district.
‘While we understand the upset this causes, at the same time, we have many families overcrowded in one-bedroom properties desperate to move to a two-bedroom property to give their children their own room and we have to manage our social housing which is in great demand in a fair and consistent manner.
“The panel agreed to make her a top priority applicant for a one-bedroom home and we have explained to her how she can check on the properties that become available.
“As long as she engages with this downsizing process, we will not be holding her to any immediate deadline.
“We have also assured her that we will make any necessary adaptations to her new home to meet her medical needs.”
