Widow facing homelessness claims council offered ‘no support’

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

A widow set to be evicted from her rented home says she is facing homelessness after Wrexham Council’s housing department failed to offer her alternative accommodation.

Pensioner Susan Monks, 72, has been served notice to leave her privately-rented Falcon Road home by Thursday, June 25.

She has appealed to Wrexham Council to help her find suitable social housing accommodation as a vulnerable person but claims with one week to go she has had no offer of a property from the authority.

“I’m 72 and in very poor health,” she said. “I’ve been on to the council and they keep saying that I won’t be here (current property) by next Thursday, that it will be sorted.

“They keep saying they’re looking but they’ve not actually come back with any suggestions. They’ve offered me no support. I’ve tried everything and now I’ve only got a few days before I have to leave my property and I’m really worried.”

Mrs Monks says she has has a number of health conditions including diabetes, asthma, COPD and heart and spinal problems and just wants to know she will have a roof over her head after next week.

“I was going up to the housing department every day at one point,” she said. “Then I was phoning every day.

“A fortnight ago, I went up again. I took the eviction notice and a lady there said to me, ‘There’s no need to keep coming up here and phoning’. They just don’t seem to care.

“They’ve had letters from my social worker, they’ve had letters from my mental health team. I’ve had fantastic support from elsewhere. It’s just the council.

“Come Thursday, that will be it. I’ll be out with nowhere to go.”

Support and advice

Councillor Terry Evans, Wrexham Council’s lead member for housing, said that his department did all it could to support people in acute need.

“It’s very difficult for us to comment on individual cases due to legalities,” he said. “However, we do provide support and advice to anyone concerned about losing their home or becoming homeless, and we do a huge amount of work to help people in this situation.

“While we can’t always offer people the exact type of home or location they want, we do always try our best to offer suitable accommodation.”