A family being evicted from a rented home was warned by the council they could be moved 250 miles away and they should see it as “a holiday''.
Mum-of-three Rae Layton, 43, was given a shock eviction notice in April and told she might have to move from Cornwall to Cardiff. Rae was given until July to find a new home but due to increasing rent and property prices this has proven impossible.
Rae said a housing officer at Cornwall Council told her that despite having to leave family and friends to move to Wales she should "look at it like a holiday". She said: "The council worker told me that my kids can look at it as a holiday. She didn't mean anything bad by it but it's just a horrible situation to be in.
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''On the 22nd April I got an email saying she wanted us out. I get it, I get all of it. People should be able to go fair enough and get another rental property. But people are demanding increasing rental prices.''
Cornwall’s social housing list is currently inundated with families in need, with currently 15,000 families waiting as of September 2021. The council advised Rae that she could have to move as far as Cardiff for emergency accommodation if she does not find anything by July.
She said: "My son has been in that house since he was born. I moved from pillar to post when I was growing up and I hated it. They’ve all got friends. My best friend lives two doors away from me, every evening we see each other.
''There’s such a big support network that I’m gonna miss. All the parents watch everyone’s kids. At the minute, I have to send off all my paperwork. There aren’t any properties.
''They want to put me in emergency accommodation, my friend's been in one for six months. She's been pushed here there and everywhere.
"I think when she told me I kind of thought 'no'. I just laid there at night, thinking what would I do. The kids wouldn’t be able to go to school as they wouldn’t have an address.' All my friends live on my road. It's the government that are doing it, they need to change it."
A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: "Our priority is to keep people safe, and we are working hard to find suitable emergency accommodation for all those who need it. We sympathise with the position that some residents are finding themselves in as Cornwall continues to face extreme pressure on the availability of housing.
''We do everything possible to keep residents within their own communities. The council has established emergency accommodation and is buying and refurbishing homes to provide medium-term temporary accommodation, but the current unprecedented demand does mean that we are having to use emergency accommodation hotels.
''In a very small number of instances, we may have to offer accommodation outside Cornwall in the short term and as a last resort. We seek to move people back as soon as we can Cornwall and continue to offer support to help them find long-term homes."
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