‘Shock’ Mum’s eviction from safe house halted
AVULNERABLE woman who fled a violent relationship three years ago while pregnant avoided eviction yesterday despite bailiffs arriving at her home.
Members of community union ACORN gathered outside to resist the move and the bailiffs who turned up with a Bristol City Council employee left without entering the property.
Anna (not her real name) refused a direct offer of housing in December 2022 from the council because she believed it was not safe but subsequently lost her appeal in court.
The working mum, whose two youngest children are still under five, said she felt pressured into accepting a flat that was located up several flights of stairs without a lift, with a front door facing a low balcony.
Anna said that she is overwhelmed and grateful for the support she received from ACORN but still in a state of shock and uncertain over what will happen next. ACORN representatives contacted the council but have not received any information about when the bailiffs might return.
Following the lost appeal, the council’s housing department is no longer legally responsible for providing Anna and her children with housing, that has fallen to social services.
The mum-of- four and she has been informed that a hotel has been booked and she will then need to find a private rental as she is no longer eligible for social housing.
But manager of Connolly & Callaghan, which owns and manages the safe house, visited Anna yesterday and told her that C&C is happy for her to stay in the flat and does not support the eviction.
After the bailiffs left, she called her social worker who she says told her, “this is your fault” for refusing a direct offer and “making yourself intentionally homeless” and that remaining in the safe house is not an option.
Anna said: “I thought they would be on my side but they punished me because I want to protect my kids. They are not making things easier, they are making things much, much harder.
“Mentally and physically, I am exhausted, I didn’t even go to work all week. How can I keep working like this? I know there is a housing crisis but this was always the case. I said, ‘OK, I can take out a mortgage’ but who is going to give me a mortgage on my salary when I can’t even increase my hours?
“I am very grateful for the support from ACORN. I don’t know where I would be without that. I am still in a state of shock and not sure what is going to happen next.”
ACORN Bristol branch secretary Wesley Bear added: “We think it is absolutely disgusting the way the council has ignored this person. She has loads of documents from the doctors but what has the council done?
“We are calling on the council to look at this situation and situations all over the city like this and start giving people the safe properties they need.
“Stop relying on people to accept offers for properties that don’t even suit their needs. It’s ridiculous and we at ACORN are not going to stand for it anymore.”
Anna said that she believed that the court would listen to her concerns over safety, having provided medical evidence of her health problems but said that she was given no chance to give her side of the story in court.
“My legal aid solicitor didn’t even come in,” she said.
“I spoke to the duty solicitor 15 minutes before court and told her that I only refused the property because it was unsafe but she said this court is about the eviction only. Up until the last minute I believed in the court and I thought the court would actually stop this.
“But the court didn’t even ask why I refused the property, nobody wanted my side of the story. It took 10 minutes and that was it, I was treated like a number, like I wasn’t even human,” she added.
Bristol City Council has been approached for comment.