Kentish Express Ashford & District
Disabled woman ‘suicidal’ over cramped conditions
A disabled tenant says she feels suicidal after being forced to move her bed into the living room because she isn’t able to get a bigger council house.
Janet Henderson downsized into her two-bedroom flat in Arlington in South Ashford three years ago when her eldest daughter moved out.
But Janet, 42, a former factory worker who suffers from fibromyalgia and is often wheelchair bound, met her new partner Graham Millen last year and he moved in with his son.
Now the family live in the cramped flat with two teenagers, prompting Janet to ask the council for a larger council home.
But she says her pleas have fallen on deaf ears with housing officers at Ashford Borough Council (ABC) who have denied her a new home.
She said: “They don’t seem to be doing anything. We’re both registered disabled and struggling with a 15-year-old and 13-year-old.
“We sleep in the living room, but the council doesn’t seem to be interested at all. We need to be moved to a bigger property.
“I’ve been feeling suicidal, it’s really getting me down. I don’t know how much more I can actually take.”
Her condition l eaves her suffering from burning aches, s l eepiness and numbness in her legs which means she needs injections in her legs to ease the pain.
Meanwhile former builder and door supervisor Graham, 46, is awaiting operations to get both of his hips replaced, and has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
They have been visited by a council occupational therapist, who deemed that they were not viewed as having a critical need to be moved to a bigger home.
An ABC spokesman said: “We currently have many families on the waiting list for larger properties, a number of whom have been established as having a greater need.
“In this instance the transfer to a larger property will take some time but we have been in contact with Mrs Henderson to explain the options available to her family.”
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