Harsh realities of everyday life for fed-up family stuck in tiny flat
A FED-UP family who are crammed into a tiny council flat could have to wait years to get a suitable home.
Maria Kuylenburg, 37, lives squashed into a two-bed home in Hounslow with her son, 11 and fiveyear-old daughter Isla.
Maria’s son has behavioural problems which mean he needs a bedroom to himself and finds it difficult if he has to share. He’s diagnosed ADHD and is on the pathway to be tested for ASD.
This means his behaviour can be wild and he fidgets and jumps around. He’s on medication and frequently tries to run away and lock Maria out of the house
Maria’s daughter, Isla, has to share a bed with her mum, frequently leaving her partner to sleep on the sofa. She believes Hounslow Council is completely failing to take into account her son’s “hidden disabilities” which mean the first-floor flat just isn’t suitable. She says the family is desperate for a three-bedroom house but have been told it could take between a year and three years to be allocated any other property.
Maria says her daughter keeps asking her, ‘When am I going to have my own room and be a big girl and have my own bed’?
“It’s very, very stressful,” she says. “There’s no area for the kids to play on a rainy day except the loft and that’s not fit for purpose. My partner has a small shed where he can go with my son to help him fix things but that’s about it.
“I get really, really bad anxiety with it all, the kids hear us having conversations about wanting to move. They know how stressed I am. It makes my anxiety so bad. It’s the not knowing I think.”
The property is cramped. From the front door you walk straight into a small hallway that leads to the stairs. There are two bedrooms – 9x11ft and 11x12ft – and a lounge of just 11x13ft and the kitchen leads straight off it.
Understandably during the pandemic the family have been really cooped up and stress levels have increased.
“During lockdown my son had nowhere to do his school work. I actually had to ask the school for him to go back early. My daughter has anxiety too and the school have picked it up. I’ve just had to take them out for lots of walks,” says Maria.
Maria says the flat downstairs underneath them has a window onto the garden which means the kids don’t feel safe playing there and she has to keep an eye on them constantly.
“I just don’t understand how this council works,” says Maria. “It’s a four-year waiting list for a property but you could be on the list for ten years. There’s just no guarantee.”
She says in the time she’s been looking to move she’s found seven empty houses in the area that she could have moved to. One that previously had a council worker in it and one where an old lady had passed away.
She says part of the problem is that bigger families are getting the houses that are available so she feels as if she’s being penalised in a way for not having enough kids.
“They are not taking into account the hidden disability issues,” she says. The family was offered a firstfloor property a month ago but had to reject it as it was unsafe for her son – it had two balconies and fulllength windows going to the floor and no garden.
“There was no protected space for him”, said Maria.
The couple are in a tight spot. Her partner’s full-time job doesn’t pay enough to afford a private rent and Maria says she can’t work as she has to look after her mum who has schizophrenia.
“Every time I think I’m getting somewhere I just hit a brick wall,” says Maria. “It seems like a cop-out, they are just not taking the medical issues into account.
“We need to have clarity. We don’t know where we stand and this is just so bad for our mental health.”
It’s a situation that’s repeated in council homes right across London where waiting lists are overstretched. In Hounslow the council says there’s a four-year wait on average for a three-bedroom property.
Maria is no stranger to mental health issues either. She had to leave home when she was a teenager as her mum suffered from schizophrenia and her behaviour was unpredictable.
Maria had to live with her nan and her sister and her mum was sectioned numerous times.
She knows what it’s like to live in a cooped-up flat and the detriment this has on people’s mental health and she fears history is repeating itself.
Hounslow Council responded to our questions on the issues, saying: “We are aware of this case and can confirm it has been assessed in line with legislation and the Council’s housing allocations policy process.
“This includes assessing any medical needs and determining medical recommendations. As a result of this, the client has been placed in priority band 2 and an offer of housing was made.
“Where applicants refuse a reasonable offer, their application is suspended for 12 months.
“However, in this case the offer was withdrawn due to reasonable feedback about the property and because of this, the client’s application remains active and will be considered for a further offer of accommodation.
“Unfortunately, due to the increasing housing need and availability of supply, the waiting time for the type of property needed is usually about four years. However, the client has already accrued approximately 14 months’ waiting time and it is anticipated that a further offer will be made within the next 34 months. This could be sooner if suitable accommodation becomes available.
“If a client has a change in circumstances, including medical, we always advise that they let us know as this could impact on their housing application. The client has been advised on all these points in writing and in conversation.
“The council understands the urgent housing needs of those on the housing register and the difficulties they face, and we are obliged to manage allocations fairly and in order of priority and need. Unfortunately, we cannot advise clients exactly when they will be offered a new home.
“Waiting times vary and depend on any specific needs residents may have, such as medical recommendations including floor level of property and location.
“There are currently over 3,300 applicants on the housing register waiting for a home, which has increased since last year because of Covid and rising housing needs in the borough generally. The council will continue to do all it can to assist residents in housing need.”
Since this statement was made, the council had contacted Maria again and said it has re-investigated her family’s medical needs. This meant the family’s wait might be reduced to a year. But even then Maria says the family has been told it’s most likely it will get a flat, not a house and it may or may not have a garden.
The average waiting times based on applicants in Band 2 on the Housing Register in Hounslow are:
■ 1-bedroom home: average waiting time is more than two years
■ 2-bedroom home: average waiting time is more than two years
■ 3-bedroom home: average waiting time is more than four years