'They have made my life like hell'

7:03am Thursday 28th February 2008

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A DISABLED homeless woman has accused Harrow Council of "making her life hell" after failing to find her somewhere to live near to her hospital.

Ruby Akhtar, 46, and two of her children are one of more than 64 families to be offered emergency housing outside Harrow due to a "severe shortage" in the borough.

Ruby and her ten-year-old son both need regular treatment at Northwick Park Hospital and she has two children at Elmgrove First School, in Kenmore Avenue, Harrow.

The council originally offered her a room in a bed and breakfast in Northwick Park Road but she says her doctor told both her and the council the accomodation was inadequate.

The only options now available to her are to take council funded accomodation in Watford, miles from her former home, or to pay for a hotel in Harrow.

She told the Harrow Times: "Harrow Council is the worst place God has ever put on earth. The way they treat people - they don't help at all. They have made my life like hell."

Ms Akhtar says she has Downs Syndrome, arthiritis and recently had an operation on her legs. She also has stomach problems and was in hospital over the weekend.

She currently claims a number of benefits which she has been using to pay her rent but she is also borrowing money from relatives and cannot maintain the cost indefinitely.

She was evicted from her flat in Northwick Park Road on February 7 because she could not pay her rent.

Since then, Ruby has been staying at the Comfort Inn, in Northwick Park Road, at a personal cost of more than £2,500.

She said her children have been affected by her situation, in particular Salman Hussain who had his tenth birthday on Monday, February 11, just four days after their eviction.

She said: "He just wants to know when we're going to get a house and when we are going to be given a normal life."

But housing officers have said she will have to wait ten years if she is hoping to get a three bedroom house in Harrow.

Gwyneth Allen, director of housing at the council, said having offered Ms Akhtar a room in a bed and breakfast there was no other accommodation in the borough within the council's price range.

She said: "We don't have the homes to offer. We have a severe shortage of affordable rented housing in Harrow.

"The homeless pressures nationally and particularly across London are significant."

But Ms Allen also said shortages of houses were occuring across the country since the introduction of the "right to buy" in the 1980s.

Right to buy meant people were given the opportunity to buy their own council home - depleting the amount of council-owned accomodation in the borough.

Ms Allen said the council had tried to help Ms Akhtar and had received a letter from her doctor advising she should not be housed in bed and breakfast.

However, she said: "We have our own medical advice and we offered what we thought was reasonable and what was available."

Have you experienced a similar problem to Ms Akhtar? Post your comments below