Pensioner has to share bed with granddaughter

4:40pm Saturday 9th March 2013 in News By Catherine Phillips, Reporter

OVERCROWDED: Denise Taylor with her granddaughters Kirsty, aged 18, and Hannah, 13. OVERCROWDED: Denise Taylor with her granddaughters Kirsty, aged 18, and Hannah, 13.

A PENSIONER forced to share a bedroom with her two granddaughters is desperate to move to a bigger house.

Denise Taylor shares her cramped two-bedroom house, owned by Bromford Housing Association, on Thistle Close, St Peters with her wheelchair-bound son Richard, who has sacral agenesis, and granddaughters Kirsty, 18, who has learning difficulties, and Hannah, 13.

Social workers allowed Kirsty to live with Miss Taylor, aged 64, from February 1 but while she was overjoyed to have Kirsty back with the family it has put a strain on an already overcrowded house.

Miss Taylor has to share her double bed with Kirsty while Hannah is in a single bed in the same room.

Kirsty’s possessions are still in plastic bags on the lounge floor as there is no storage room left in the house.

She said: “We are really, really overcrowded, I have applied for three exchanges but they all fell through.

“The girls give me a lot of joy and my son is absolutely terrific but it is the housing situation which is getting to me. No-one out there seems to want to know.”

A spokesman for Worcester City Council said it could not comment on individual cases but all housing decisions were made according to its allocations policy which is available at homechoiceplus.org.uk.

He added: “We apply the allocations policy fairly to everyone. People in overcrowded homes are given priority, but that has to be balanced with other priorities, such as homeless people or people with acute medical needs.”

Miss Taylor said she would continue to apply for housing and hopes that a more suitable house comes up soon.

“I am not getting any sleep at the moment, sometimes I have to go and sleep on the sofa.

“My son has gone very quiet, he likes his privacy but he has become a prisoner in his own bedroom.

“The situation has got me in tears, I have been crying all the time but there is nothing I can do, I have done everything I can.”

Comments(10)

TDH123 says...
6:19pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Bunk-beds for the girls might be a solution?

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grumpy woman says...
6:51pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Look at renting privately. Take responsibility for your family rather than waiting for others to do something.

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chapski75 says...
8:38pm Sat 9 Mar 13

A living room is surely a luxury if you don't have enough bedrooms? A sofa bed or single bed against a wall to make use of the space available would make more sense. People do live in bedsits and are glad of the roof over their head.
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Unfortunately at the age of 64 it's unlikely the lady in the article will be able to have 11 children and be able to live in the lap of luxury, so compromising is the only way.
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Why do housing associations buy 2 bedroom places on St Peter's in the first place though? They'd get a 3 bedroom ex-local authority house for the same money, seems a lack of foresight we've come to expect of the public sector. Yes, I know housing associations are technically not public sector, they are "not-for-profit" organisations but the ethos is very much public sector.

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lizzyloolah says...
10:27pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Tough one really. At 18 young adults in care are no longer social services responsibility and are sent on their way. The lady would have known when she took her grand daughter in that they would be over crowded but if she had turned her away where would the girl have gone? I doubt the gran would have had a good nights sleep then either! What about the parents?

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jb says...
12:49am Sun 10 Mar 13

A social worker makes a decision to allow an 18 year old with learning disabilities to move in with relatives in an environment which will be overcrowded? Comoletely sums up the state of the current social care system. Disgusting.

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snowdrop_40 jones says...
8:00pm Sun 10 Mar 13

You may well ask about the'parents,' don't go there,believe me.I think that social services should provide more support to these poor kids leaving a care system in which they were placed through no fault of their own.This lady is full-time carer to her son,and then takes in her grandchildren,despit
e the lack of room-I could name several families nearby that are headed by alky/druggy parents,and the kids via family allowance provide the income.Something should be done about this type of drain on resources and free some money to help ladies like the one in this story who is doing her best,and is overcrowded not by choice-unless you are harsh enough to believe her choice was to kick her flesh and blood out on the street!

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Jabbadad says...
10:02pm Sun 10 Mar 13

Thank goodness these kids have a loving caring Nan who is keeping the family together. Whether they are in 1 or 2 bed accommodation the family home is far better than being in care.
I could be excused for thinking that those who criticise such a lovely woman have just had all their sins removed today by the wave of a hand or singing a hymn.
Shame on you.

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Guy66 says...
11:08pm Sun 10 Mar 13

The so called "Bedroom tax" (which is nothing of the sort! Just a Labour sound bite to fool the inane and hard of thinking) is good news for overcrowded families.....

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Jabbadad says...
12:34am Mon 11 Mar 13

Since there has been social housing since early in the 1930's where in Worcester for instance there were council houses built for ex-miners from wales to move into. So naturally families were housed, Kids were born and grew up, some stayed at home and had their own kids in the same family home. So a council house could well have been the same family home for 40 years or more, and had been paid for several times over by the amount of rents.paid. No Housing benefit in those days.
Some like my mum bought their council houses under the right to buy scheme. Some could not, (didn't make them any less of a person) But during all those years there were houses under-occupied and under different governments none of which had the political courage to address this issue. Those who tried quickly gave in when the person still in the family home complained loud enough.
So like many I say that although some wish to remain in the family homes what about those families in overcrowded homes or even worse those for no fault of their own are a family in Bed & Breakfast.
But again those older people who did agree to downsize / move into Sheltered Housing with a warden were betrayed by the labor Government who after promising them wardens took them away, leaving the older people vulnerable, and even took their one subsidised (not free) hot meal per day away..
So there is a long political story of dishonesty and broken promises here which some, perhaps for political reasons wish to forget.
So again well done to a Nan who has taken her family into her home to keep them together.

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batchelorboy says...
12:56pm Mon 11 Mar 13

It amazes me how people like the lady in the story thinks just because the HA hasn't done anything about her situation that it must mean 'they don't want to know'.

Maybe there just aren't any bigger homes empty right now! And I don't think HA award extra points for the lady choosing to make the home more overcrowded, although it is good that she has taken the 18 year old, when she could have ended up in the YMCA 16-24 year old supported accommodation scheme - not a nice place to be, despite their selling points.

I agree bunk beds would be a good idea. Get rid of the double bed, make room for another wardrobe etc.

I know a family who have five kids in a 3-bedroom house - the parents sleep in the living room... they're happy.

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