A 56-year-old woman who is due to be evicted on 1 May has been told she should be able to “function reasonably well” if she ends up on the streets.
Thurrock Council wrote to Heidi Dodson rejecting her application for priority housing following an eviction notice from her landlord.
The council acknowledges Ms Dodson is eligible for help but maintained she would be able to cope if she becomes homeless and is not a “priority need”.
Ms Dodson’s local housing department suggested that even if being homeless led to her “having to sleep rough occasionally or in the longer term”, she would not be more vulnerable than another ordinary person in the same situation.
The letter adds: "You are a person that I am satisfied can 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.”
Wow. “We have nothing to offer you. Not even compassion.”
She should camp on the lawn of a council member’s house.
I get it. There are 4,000 people currently on the list, they’re just saying she doesn’t have a reason to be moved to #1. She has access to the same resources everyone else facing homelessness does.
this council that gets mentioned a few times - its like a local/town government? that’s what I got from context.
It’s the lowest government that governs the cities/towns/villages and surrounding areas.
It’s extremely complex and not at all unified, some places have two tiers of it, some dont. Urban differs from rural and the whole basically requires being a Brit to understand.
And of course, it’s different in the different countries.
But you can generally fill in “local city/town government” and be mostly correct.
