Vulnerable families housed 50 miles away by city council

VULNERABLE Birmingham families are being put up in budget hotels up to 50 miles away – because there is no room for them here.

One mother and her four children, forced to flee domestic violence, have been put up at a budget hotel in Stoke-on-Trent.

She has to commute for hours every day just to get her children to and from school.

“She feels in despair because of her situation,” said campaign group Citizens UK.

“The journey from Stoke is awful. The Travelodge is highly unsuitable. There are not even the baby’s milk.

“She is trying to manage her work, care for her children and getting them all to school as well as she can. She feels overwhelmed.”

A Castle Vale family of four, two of them with disabilities, were forced out of their home following a firework arson attack and spent three weeks in a Wolverhampton Travelodge. They were later moved to Rugeley, still more than 20 miles away.

June Hobbis and her children Gary, 29, Gemma, 24, and Ajay, 16, facilities to heat were forced to leave their home after someone launched a firework through the letterbox on October 30, setting the curtains on fire and damaging the property. Gemma has cerebral palsy and needs round-theclock care and specialist equipment, while Ajay, who has learning difficulties, risks losing his college place after being sent away.

“To locate my family 22 miles away from home is ridiculous,” said Ms Hobbis. “I thought this was temporary but we have been here for more than three weeks now. I have two disabled children and we are strug- gling to live in hotel rooms, let alone being so far away from home. We have no cooking facilities and are living on takeaways.”

She has not been told when her rented housing association home will be habitable again.

Citizens UK organiser Saidul Haque Saeed said: “A few years ago, Birmingham City Council was objecting to London boroughs moving vulnerable families into the city to save money. Now it seems Birmingham is doing the same. Is it really the case Birmingham City Council can no longer offer emer- gency accommodation within its city boundaries anymore?”

A council spokesman said: “We are checking daily to see if we can find suitable local temporary accommodation for both of these families.

“We are faced with an unprecedented demand for temporary accommodation which is why we were hoping to be able to convert Barry Jackson Tower into temporary accommodation for people in crisis such as these two families. We would never choose to house people so far away but we simply have no alternative at the moment.”