Anyone would think that the state would provide a safety net for a woman with four children who has come out of an abusive marriage.  This wasn't Louise's experience.  A highly intelligent, motivated mother who is determined to keep her family together, she was let down by practically every agency which is designed to help families in this predicament. We are currently working with Louise to try and stabilise her housing and help her lift her family out of the poverty trap.  Here she tells her story in her own words.

"I was once an ordinary mum.

I owned a house:  it was an old farmhouse, surrounded by a beautiful garden where I planted trees and flowers and vegetables. Inside were open fires, beamed ceilings and more rooms that I could use. It was the perfect place to raise my children. Sadly my fairytale home contained an obligatory fairytale villain: my husband. He was cruel and controlling and restricted everything I did. Without the security and comfort of my home, the marriage would have been intolerable. But while my children and I had our place in the world, we were happy.

Eventually, my husband decided that he wanted the substantial equity that the property had accumulated over the ten years that I’d spent raising the children there. He sold the house and left with the money.

I found myself alone with the kids, with nowhere to live, penniless and unsupported. Without a husband, I was demoted from my position as Stay at Home Mum to Unemployed Benefit Claimant. I tried desperately to find a home for my family but was turned away by almost every landlord in town because of my status. Eventually I found an expensive, very small property with a sympathetic landlord. I raised the several thousand pounds required to secure the property through getting into unaffordable debt, and walked into the house determined to improve the family’s prospects. I started full time university education, took on several voluntary jobs as I could not find paid employment, and made sure I was an excellent tenant, in order to spare myself future housing problems.

Housing benefit rates are calculated according to how many bedrooms each family requires. I was at this time entitled to a four bedroom house and was therefore allocated the four bedroom housing benefit rate. This meant I could afford the rent. In fact we lived in a three bedroom property as the allowance did not cover the cost of a larger house. This was okay of course; squeezing four children into two bedrooms is fine as two can share.

Unfortunately, when my eldest daughter decided to accept a university place away from home, I was warned that I’d no longer be able to claim the money required to rent our small three bedroom house, and would have to find somewhere at least £350 per month cheaper.

I naively thought that I would be given some assistance to relocate. In fact I faced more obstacles than I could possibly have expected. The housing benefit rates for a three bedroom property had by this time been cut considerably. I spent seven months searching through newspapers, websites and looking in shop windows at advertised private lets, and did not find a single three bedroom property which was affordable to me. So I started enquiring about two bedroom properties. However, convincing landlords that I could fit myself and three children into a two bedroom flat without causing unreasonable wear and tear proved impossible.

The government claim that under new rules introduced this year, thirty percent of privately rented properties are available to benefit claimants. In addition to the fact that I found no affordable properties at all, I also found that the prejudice towards people like me is significant. Letting agents felt that they could be openly rude to me, making comments such as ‘We’ve got nothing on our books for the likes of you’. It made no difference that I had flawless references from my landlord; or that I had references from my voluntary jobs which proved me to be a reliable, hard working person. The result of this apparently acceptable discrimination was that only a tiny proportion of private lets were available to me, and these were in high demand.

As I had by this time been on the waiting list for a council propertyfor over a year, I went to the local authority to ask for help. I was told that there was absolutely no hope of me being allocated a council house or flat in the near future, and that I should expect to wait several years. When I explained that I could no longer afford to pay the rent on my house, that I had no money to pay deposit and rent in advance fees, and that no one in the area was willing to rent a house to me anyway, I was told that it was my problem and they could do nothing to help. Various schemes exist intended help people in this sort of situation: discretionary housing benefit payments, deposit bonds, crisis loans for rent in advance etc- all of which I was refused.

In desperation, I wrote to my MP who in turn wrote to the council and various other people who he believed may be able to assist me. I have a large collection of correspondence from these authorities, all stating that although they accepted that I had done everything possible to improve my situation, and that my housing problems were not of my own making, there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it.

Eventually I found a property which despite being nearly £125 a month more than I could afford to rent, was my only option. The letting agency was helpful and told me I could move into the property as soon as I gave them over £2000 in fees and provided them with a suitable guarantor. I managed to gather the money through grants donated by charities, and through borrowing from friends and paid the fees in full. I sent in the details of several people who, thanks to my references, which the agency admitted were excellent, agreed to be guarantor. So I gave notice to my landlord that I would be vacating his property in one month’s time, in accordance with the conditions of my tenancy agreement. Disastrously, what I did not know was that my guarantors were all unsuitable. They were required to be earning in excess of £30,000 pa, have an excellent credit history and preferably be home owners. Every one that I put forward was rejected.

I found myself in a terrifying position; unable to retract the notice on my current tenancy, unable to secure a new one and having spent all my borrowed money on fees for a house that it seemed unlikely I could now live in. I went back to the council and explained the situation. I was told to submit a homeless application but that it was very likely to be rejected. Apparently what I had done was made myself ‘Intentionally homeless’: a term which local authorities use to cover almost any eventuality through which a family who rents privately has found themselves without accommodation, unless it is through the fault of their landlord. When I explained that I literally had nowhere to go and was unable to help myself, they suggested that all they could do would be to ask social services to house the children without me.

In absolute despair, I went back to the agency that had rejected my guarantors and asked them if there was anything that could be done. They agreed that if I could find another £900 in fees, they would allow me to rent the property. This caused me considerable difficulty but I found the money, and with only days to spare before the complete destruction of my life and my family, I moved into the house.

The government states that housing benefit cuts have been made in order to stop people on benefits being able to afford properties that working tenants couldn’t hope to pay for. My new house rents at 15% above the housing benefit rate. It has no proper heating. It contains none of the facilities that most privately rented houses have as standard- white goods, curtains etc. All of the windows need replacing so it is impossible to keep the house warm. The bathroom is extremely old and in poor condition, and the garden is piled high with rubbish from the previous occupants, creating a vermin problem. It is doubtful that working tenants, who can pick and choose between properties within their budget, without being subjected to any prejudice, would aspire to live in a place such as this.

Due to having to borrow in excess of £6000 to secure the two properties that I’ve had since losing my home, and the fact that I cannot afford the property that I am now renting, my family and I are facing genuine poverty. I can’t buy the children clothes or shoes. I can’t afford to heat our home. My food budget is tiny and as I have no freezer or cupboards in which to store food, our diet is severely compromised. I can no longer pay for my university fees and have had to give up my degree, limiting my future prospects and ability to escape the benefit trap.

I have been persecuted and exploited by the private rental market, due to my perceived unsuitability as a tenant. I could only negotiate a six month tenancy on my current property. I have no guarantee that in a few months time, I won’t be facing the same housing issues again. I am absolutely powerless to do anything to improve our situation. I have been warned by the job centre that with three children to support alone, and in private rented accommodation, I will never be fully off benefits even when in work. I have never given up my search for paid employment, and am determined to find a job, but don’t expect my situation to improve when I do.

When I look back on the two years since I lost my home and security, I feel like I have lived through a terrible storm. I now have the task of picking over the shredded remnants of my life and trying to salvage what is left of my hope and ambition. Realistically, there is little left. All I can hope for is that I find a way to provide the absolute bare necessities for my children, and even that seems near impossible now."