Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Army family facing eviction delighted to be found a home
An Army veteran and his family who were just weeks away from being made homeless have been given a place to live after their plight was highlighted by the Gazette.
Canterbury City Council stepped in at the last minute to help Trevor and Elaine Nutt days after they were issued a final eviction notice by the Ministry of Defence.
The couple were told they had to move out of their Howe Barrack’s home in Sobraon Way with their fours sons, aged between 19 and nine, by June 21.
Mr Nutt, 44, a soldier for 24 years who served in Iraq and Kosovo, retired from the Army in January meaning he was no longer entitled to stay in the house.
Mrs Nutt, 48, said the council, despite promising to support those from the Armed Forces, told them they might have to temporarily move into a hostel as far away as Folkestone.
It would have meant her boys having to leave their schools and Mr Nutt, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, his security guard job at Debenhams. But the family is now celebrating after the council announced a house has been found for them in Canterbury.
“Thank you to the Kentish Gazette for all your help,” said Mrs Nutt. “We’re ecstatic. We just want to move in now.
“The only problem we’ve got is we’ve had our eviction notice for June 21 so the council is trying to get that extended for a month while we wait for the house to be ready.
“The MOD has been good to us allowing us to stay here in Howe Barracks six months longer than we should so we’re hoping they will let us have one more month.” She said the boys, who go to Pilgrims Way Primary School and the Canterbury Academy, are over the moon.
“They can’t wait,” she said. “We’ve had a look at the place. Trevor has already got plans for the garden.”
Mr Nutt was a corporal for the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and served on seven operational tours.
The family have been living out of boxes for the past six months while waiting to be housed.