Family ‘ordered out of home’ by security guards
COUNCIL APOLOGIES FOR ATTEMPTED EVICTION ‘FABRICATED’ BY MEN WHO WENT ‘OVER THE TOP’
A WOMAN and her two children living in temporary accommodation in Leicester were woken up by security men at their door who told them they needed to pack their things and leave.
The family were living in emergency accommodation while attempts were made to find them a more permanent home.
Leicester City Council said the family were then given 24 nights’ notice that they needed to leave the property, which is run by the Housing Network, which helps the council find homes for vulnerable people.
But the mum-of-two said she was not given any notice and had nowhere to move to, because no suitable home could be found.
Two security guards and a Housing Network officer were then dispatched to see if she had left the property.
When they saw she was still there, they went inside and the woman said they told her she needed to leave the house immediately.
The mum argued she had no money and nowhere to move into – and the security guards, who worked for a third-party company employed by the Housing Network, said she had until Friday to leave.
In a video, sent to the Mercury, one of the security men tells her: “I think you should do yourself a favour lady, you have till Friday, you have a long enough time to prepare yourself and leave this house because you have crossed all the lines.”
Another said: “He’s being nice today because if it was me she would be out.”
The mum said: “I was just shocked, they came in the morning while my children were still in their pyjamas, telling us to get out. I didn’t know what to do.
“I was thinking they’re going to come back and I will have nowhere to go. We were scared.”
The city council has since admitted the security guards were “completely over the top”, they had acted unprofessionally and “fabricated” the eviction.
It has also apologised unreservedly for their behaviour.
The woman, who is a victim of domestic abuse, began seeking asylum when she moved to the UK with her children 10 years ago.
She was granted leave to remain last year and was moved into her current temporary home in Leicester while attempts were made to find her a more permanent home.
Leicester City Council has a legal obligation to offer her one home and has since offered her three.
But the woman said she could not have realistically moved into any of them because she has a long-standing back injury as a result of the abuse she suffered and struggles to use the stairs.
She said one of the properties was damp and would not be suitable for her young children, aged two and eight.
Charity and advocacy group British and Muslim said it understands that there is a housing crisis, but it is seeing “more and more cases like this one”.
A spokesman for the charity said: “The people who are suffering the most are the most vulnerable people. We believe these residents are being failed and we are angry. What we are seeing is that these people are caught between the council which is in a housing crisis and private landlords who will not help them.”