A YOUNG mum who is heavily pregnant with twins says she has been forced to move in with her elderly grandparents after being made homeless.

Heather Dickinson and her partner Bradley East-Watson, both 24, had been living in a two-bed flat at Howe Hill hostel in Acomb since May 2, having been evicted from a private rental in Clifton. They have a two-year-old daughter, Paige, and Heather is expecting her twins in seven weeks.

Heather said they were paying £212 a week to stay in the hostel and, on Bradley’s wage as a barman which varies each week depending on shifts, they could not afford to save enough for a deposit for another private flat.

Heather said they had been on the council house waiting list for more than five years. They are on a range of benefits, but Heather said that some weeks their income has fallen well below their rent and they have fallen into arrears.

A City of York Council spokesman said they could not discuss details of the case, but they had spoken to Heather and she had agreed to move in with her grandparents in Selby.

Heather, a full-time mum, said: “I am totally distraught. I was taken in to hospital last Saturday with contractions and fortunately they stopped, but it’s very hard when all this has been hanging over us.

“Our only option was to move in with my grandparents, but they are in their 80s and my granddad has dementia, so moving in to their house with a young child and two babies is not ideal and it’s not an option for us to move in with my mum or Bradley’s family so we are stuck.”

Tom Brittain, head of the council’s housing services, said: “We can confirm we have provided temporary accommodation for longer than the law requires us. Rent for this includes all utility bills and support and must be paid.

“If it is not and if arrears are not cleared then we no longer have a statutory duty to house them and we can let the property to others on our 3,000-long waiting list.”

The Child Poverty Action Group campaigns for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.

Chief executive Alison Garnham said: “It doesn’t matter how much debt a family has, you can’t introduce new-born twins into the world by making them homeless at the start of winter.

“Cuts to basic support for families, especially those stuck on low wages and zero hours contracts, are causing more and more families like this to get into serious housing debt.

“They can’t pay what they haven’t got.”
 

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