A woman who is 38 weeks pregnant says she's living in fear of the possibility of homelessness once she gives birth. Jenny Hughes, 31, is due to become a mum on January 24, but currently finds herself without a permanent home due to personal reasons.
After leaving a shared accommodation before the pandemic, Jenny moved from temporary hotel stays to hostels before eventually moving into a hostel in Carlton. It was living here that Jenny found out she was pregnant.
She says the news came as a 'surprise' as she was using an Intrauterine device (IUD), or coil, a form of contraceptive that is 99% effective when inserted correctly. Doctors later told Jenny about the risks surrounding pregnancy with an IUD.
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Removing the coil could have meant losing the baby, but there was a risk of infection if doctors kept it in. Yet, everything went well and Jenny says she decided it was 'God's will', and she 'embraced it'.
However, Jenny now lives in a temporary accommodation in Nottingham and says that it is likely she will, at best, have to stay in temporary hotels and emergency accommodation from night-to-night after her labour. Jenny has been working alongside homeless prevention charity Framework and Housing Aid, a Nottingham City Council-run organisation which provides support for people like Jenny, but says the process has been 'frustrating'.
She says her situation can feel 'cruel at times'. Jenny said: "I was in hotels and stuff at that point where I was being placed in different parts of Nottingham at different hotels temporarily. Eventually I got put in another hostel and eventually then moved on to (the supported accommodation). That's where I found out I was pregnant. That was a bit of a surprise - I wasn't expecting that.
"I had a coil fitted which is supposed to last like eight years; 99% effective they told me. Because of that I didn't imagine I'd be pregnant. I think I found out after six-to-eight weeks - something didn't feel right. I was encouraged to take a pregnancy test.
"When I went to the Victoria Health Centre where I'd had it fitted and they were quite concerned. They made me do another pregnancy test and said they needed to get me to the hospital.
"They said it's really dangerous if you've got an ectopic pregnancy, which is common. Thankfully when I got there they told me that it was healthy and happened to settle in a good place.
"Then I got given a choice of what do you want to do - because it's probable that if we take out the IUD I could have lost the baby. But if they left it in and I got an infection they'd have had to terminate the pregnancy anyway. With how things are going I thought 'there's got to be some good in this because it's just such a surprise'.
"Maybe it's God's will for the situation. So I embraced that. I found out a few months later that the building I was living in, I was going to have to move from there.
"Framework have been really helpful with the move. Even within all this I'm really working to get on to HomeLink, but it's been a nightmare.
"I feel frustrated - my workers have gone above and beyond - and yet it's like I've been butting heads with various people during this process to try and get a place to live. I think I had other expectations that it wouldn't be the case of me having to move from place to place.
"How am I going to manage going from hotels day-to-day? In the few days after giving birth, if I can hopefully convince the hospital to let me stay for a few days. Covid still exists, it's winter and there are other things going around.
"I don't want to take a newborn baby into different places where it's at risk of getting ill with different people there. I'm worried about how I'm going to manage when I haven't done this before trying to figure out how to look after a baby, trying to stay stable while dealing with all of this.
"It feels quite cruel at times." Nottingham City Council has said that there is 'no risk' that Jenny will be homeless on the street with her child.
Framework has stated that it appears as though Jenny will be offered temporary or emergency accommodation in the 'first instance', but will not be asked to attend Housing Aid daily. Her application for a home remains open.
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "We're sympathetic to Jenny's situation and our Housing Aid team has been working with her for several months to help find privately-rented accommodation. This support continues and her case has not been closed.
"It's important to be clear that Housing Aid has not advised Jenny that she would be intentionally homeless. Having been notified of her risk of homelessness in October, we have assigned an officer to work with her to find a more permanent solution.
"There is no risk of her being homeless on the street with her child as the council has a duty to provide interim accommodation, and there would be no expectation for her to present daily to the service. Jenny's Homelink application also remains open and we will continue to support her with this."
Dave Smith, Framework's service director for community services, added: "We understand how anxious Jenny is at this most important moment in her life. A complicated set of circumstances has resulted in her now finding herself in a difficult situation and understandably feeling extremely vulnerable.
"Along with several other agencies, staff at Framework are doing all they can to ensure that Jenny receives the support she needs over this critical period. This includes working with our partners at the city council to address the issues she has raised in her letter to the Nottingham Post.
"We are assured, following our most recent contact with Housing Aid, that Jenny's homelessness application with the city council is still an open case, that Housing Aid will continue to work with her, and that she will be accommodated when she comes out of hospital after giving birth. It does appear most likely that she will be offered temporary or emergency accommodation in the first instance but she will not be asked to attend Housing Aid daily.
"They will continue their efforts to seek private rented accommodation on her behalf."
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