Non! French family of 10 turn down offer of five-bed council house
A FRENCH family of ten demanded a bigger council house only to reject the offer of a five-bedroom home as too small.
Student Arnold Mballe Sube and his wife Jeanne say there is not enough storage space for them and their eight children and complained that not all the bedrooms are doubles.
They have been housed by Luton Council since moving to the UK from Paris four years ago and live in a three-bedroom house at the taxpayer’s expense.
But Mr and Mrs Sube, both 33 and originally from Cameroon, say they need more space, especially since the arrival of their eighth child three weeks ago. Luton Council, which has 10,000 people on its housing waiting list, offered them one of the few five-bedroom houses available.
Yesterday Mr Sube insisted: ‘There wasn’t space for the things Cramped: Their current home of ten people. It didn’t even have a dining room.’
He added: ‘Me and my family have been neglected. We are living in a three-bedroom house and there’s not enough room.
‘The conditions are terrible. We need a five or six-bedroom house with double rooms.’
Mr Sube and his wife, both originally from Cameroon, moved to the UK from Paris in 2012 so that he could study mental health nursing at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton.
Luton Council put them in bed and breakfast accommodation in North West London and laid on taxis to take the children to school in Luton even though Mr Sube had a car. Eventually they were given the three-bedroom house in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, at a cost to the taxpayer of £15,336 a year in rent.
Their four daughters sleep in one room and three sons share another. Mrs Sube sleeps with the baby so Mr Sube uses the sofa.
He said they were ‘remorseful’ at having left the larger home they rented in France.
Mr Sube’s £9,000-a-year university course is paid for by the NHS. He is employed as a support worker for two healthcare companies during university holidays. The work is a condition of his being able to claim benefits.
It is not clear what benefits the family claim but as EU citizens they would be entitled to up to £25,000 a year in handouts while receiving housing benefit. This includes child benefit of £20.70 a week for their eldest child and £13.70 for each other child, child tax credits of up to £2,780 a year and working tax credits.
They have appointed a lawyer, it is believed through legal aid, to argue their housing case.
Labour councillor Tom Shaw, who is responsible for housing in the area, said people should realise that we are in the middle of a housing crisis. He added: ‘We have managed to find them a large fourbed house and then a five-bed which they turned down.
‘We can’t be any more sympathetic. We can’t just magic property that people want out of thin air.’
A council spokesman said: ‘Housing stock in Luton is under constant pressure and on occasions we may have to locate families temporarily outside of Luton.
‘Despite difficulties we managed to find Mr and Mrs Sube affordable housing in Luton that is large enough to house them and their eight children.
‘After a generous offer on our part we have done our bit and, if housing is offered and declined without good reason, we will offer the property to another family.’