A BLIND man who lives in a cramped one bedroom flat with his two young sons says his family should be rehoused as a priority.

Brian Hope says he is reaching the end of his tether after a seven year battle with Worcester City Council to be rehoused in a new home which meets the needs of himself and his boys.

Mr Hope, 61, of Robert Owen Court, off St Paul's Street, Worcester said he suffered from a 'double whammy' as he has both glaucoma and macular degeneration, causing him to be registered blind two years ago.

Mr Hope has survived cancer (melanoma) twice and is now wrestling with depression, sleeping on an uncomfortable futon in a crowded lounge while his sons are cramped together in a bunk bed in the only bedroom. One of his sons, Conor, 12, suffers from type 2 diabetes and Mr Hope says there is no room in the confines of his flat for a guide dog which would help him. Mr Hope is also struggling with bereavement, having lost his sister on Monday, December 15 while he describes his mother as seriously ill in hospital.

His ordeal has now prompted him to register complaints against Worcester City Council with the council itself and the local Government Ombudsman.

He said: "I feel like I have been slapped and slapped and slapped in the face so many times. Nobody from the council comes. Nobody has bothered. The conditions are absolutely horrendous. I am at the end of my tether. This has been a seven year battle. I should be a priority. I can't do anything in the flat. It's completely cramped. The council say to me 'that's just how it is and that's how it's going to stay.' My children are cramped in there. I'm cramped in here. Enough is enough. I have asked and hoped and prayed someone comes and sees it. But nobody has bothered. No-one has been around to see how I'm living. I can't believe anybody would allow it. I would have been happy if someone could have come and seen it. But they want me, a blind man, to cone and see them."

Mr Hope said it was 'weird' that he had been classed as gold plus by Worcester City Council for five years (the highest priority for housing) until 2013 before he was downgraded to bronze after he said he was told the rating was an 'error'. Since October 22 he has been upgraded to gold but says that rating is not high enough to reflect his family's difficult circumstances and they should be gold plus, where he was originally.

Mr Hope says he has submitted doctors letters, correspondence from his ophthalmologist to try and get his banding altered to gold plus. He said in the room where he sleeps he is cramped alongside a chest of drawers, a television, shoes and one of his sons' games consoles and even has to store bikes in the lounge as they have no shed or garden.

Worcester City Council are unable to comment on individual cases. However, a spokesman said: "We are currently undertaking a review of how accessible the Home Choice Plus system is for people with sight impairment.”

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