Local authorities in Devon have told a young woman with mental health problems that she could “manage being homeless”.
The comments were made by Torbay council in a letter informing the woman that she did not qualify as ‘priority need’ status for a council home, after she had been told she was losing her emergency bed& breakfast accommodation.
The letter said they has decided she was “resilient enough” to manage being homeless even if that meant sleeping rough “occasionally or in the longer term”.
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The letter adds: “We are unfortunately, as a result of this decision, not able to continue to provide you with temporary accommodation.”
The Mirror reports: Despite accepting that she suffers from depression, Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder, an officer from Torbay Council wrote: “You are a person that I am satisfied is able to cope and function reasonably well with ‘day to day’ living and this would I believe still be the case if you were to become homeless or to remain homeless.”
The unknown council official says they are satisfied the claimant “does not have priority needs” under housing law.
They say they have decided she is “resilient enough” to manage being homeless even if that means sleeping rough “occasionally or in the longer term”.
The letter adds: “We are unfortunately, as a result of this decision, not able to continue to provide you with temporary accommodation.”
The letter, revealed by charity Humanity Torbay, accepts the woman like anyone else facing becoming homeless “will inevitably suffer harm.”
The charity said in a statement: “We are horrified and shocked that somebody with severe depression and other medical facts is deemed fit to be able to sleep on the streets.”
A spokeswoman said the charity had arranged a temporary safe place for the woman to stay.
Torbay Council says the extracts of the letter shared on social media do not tell the full story and it tries as hard as it can within the law to help people who come forward as homeless.
Niamh Harris
Liberal compassion.