Two women have been left homeless after rejecting a council flat near a Lush soap factory due to their highly sensitive noses.
Cherie Hitchens, 58, and Joanna Morrison, 63, have been living in temporary accommodation provided by Dorset Council for a year - both of them have multiple disabilities including multiple chemical sensitivity.
This makes them extremely sensitive to any chemical-type smells, Dorset Live reports
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Cheries said that chemical smells can cause them to vomit, have rashes, experience a racing heart rate and brain fog - their GP diagnosed them with the condition while Ms Morrison has had further treatment by a specialist.
So when Dorset Council said the only permanent accommodation it could offer them was a bungalow in Upton, one mile from the Lush soap factory, Cherie and Joanna said they had no choice but to turn the offer down, leaving them homeless as a result.
"They evicted us because we said no to one permanent bungalow in Upton," Cherie said.
"We said no to that because it was right next to the carriageway, there were lots of Lush smells, lots of people working for Lush - we are allergic to scented products, they make us very ill.
"Also the problem with the bungalow was they said if we didn't stay there for five years, we would have to pay for all the disabled adaptions."
The pair are part-time wheelchair users, with Joanna suffering from asthma and diabetes while Cherie suffers from spinal stenosis, Graves Disease and has recently recovered from cancer - they have been living in Upton since 2020.
They were moved into a hotel in 2020 when their council-funded home became unavailable, shortly after they were moved into a temporary house in Wareham for a year.
Because they need more permanent accommodation, they were offered a new bungalow in Upton but this was unsuitable for them.
"We had to do an assessment, of their opinion and our opinion of why we couldn't take the bungalow in Upton. We did that. They [the council] said you should have taken it," Cherie added.
"We looked in Devon, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Cornwall, and Dorset obviously, to start off with. They're throwing us out of Dorset.
"We can't go to places that have a very well-known scented product shops and factories - we can't go near them, and they are all over the place.
"We did look at three properties out of a lot that I saw. Three of them we wanted, but one landlord said: 'no, housing benefit'.
"They believe what's on the TV - that we're all scum and we're just milking the system. We are not. It's not our fault we had these accidents - it's not our fault we have to rely on benefits. We're relying on credit cards now - I'm almost maxed out," she said.
Cherie claims they went through the courts, but the council has now withdrawn all forms of help and evicted them from their temporary home on January 26.
Both the women are now staying in a hotel for as long as they can afford to, which won't be for long.
Cherie said: "They're expecting us to sofa-surf, they're expecting us to have friends and family. But they use scented products! We used to use scented products - we used to have lovely incense sticks, you know? We couldn't live there.
"[Joanna's] suffered enough. She's nearly 64 years old - she doesn't deserve this, we don't deserve this. No disabled person deserves this - the way we are being treated."
When asked what she felt needed to be done, Cherie said: "We've looked for a three bedroom, detached bungalow, with a wet room, with a garage, no wood burners, no VOC paint, not newly refurbished, no new carpets and not near carriageways, factories or industrial estates. That's what we want.
"It's not easy - of course, we're part time wheelchair users, and I'm going to be paralysed in a few years because of my narrowing of the spinal cord."
Cherie said: "Jo has to see the specialist, she's got another condition, and she has not been able to see them for six months. So we cannot move out of Dorset until she sees them. So we've got to stay here until February 1.
"There's other counties that offer three, four, five properties. We were only offered one. We didn't know that! They never said to us, if you don't accept it, then you are going to be on the streets."
She said that their situation had left her and Ms Morrison with mental health problems. "I have got depression, obviously. We do laugh...but mostly we're crying," she said.
A spokesman for Dorset Council said: “The council is unable to go into detail on individual cases.
“However, there is a very clear legal procedure the council has to follow in offering residents a suitable property.
“The consequences of refusing to accept a property, which is deemed suitable, are clearly communicated in writing and verbally.
“Decisions can also be reviewed and go through the court system.
“The council also has an obligation to use temporary accommodation in the best way possible for all residents.”
