Mum sharing bed with 2 kids in tiny flat 'has panic attacks' -council says she's got too much stuff
| Published date | 22 April 2024 |
| Publication title | MyLondon (England) |
As a resident of The Poplars in Greenford, the 29-year-old says Ealing Council's temporary housing solution has wrecked her mental health, destroyed her sleep pattern and left her desperate for a way out. But Ealing Council claims her space issues are partly down to her having too many possessions, because she 'moved all of the contents of her previous property' there when she was turfed out in a no-fault eviction.
Shamicka told the Local Democracy Reporting Service LDRS: "We haven't come from nothing, we have come from somewhere, where we were living for 7-8 years. Of course, we are gonna come with some extra stuff. What do they expect me to do, throw away everything and have nothing for me and my kids It's just ridiculous."
The apartment's main room contains its only source of natural light with two large ground-floor windows facing a busy car park. "I don't sleep at night," Shamicka tells the LDRS. "The [car] lights, at first I wasn't sure [they were the cause], but I have been getting panic attacks. I have dreams of a car coming and crashing through the window. It literally keeps me up at night time."
The position of her windows and their proximity to the car park means she and her children have struggled with privacy, noise and car fumes because they are their only source of ventilation. The ground floor unit contains a humble kitchen and a tiny bathroom, while the bedroom/living room's frosted windows offer little in the way of privacy from passing neighbours and bright headlamps at night.
She said: "There's a lot of back and forth between some of the neighbours, I think some of them come from troubled backgrounds so my daughter is always hearing the screaming, there is always drama. There are always people arguing out in the car park, and substance users as well, so they all come with their friends. It all gets a bit chaotic. When the fire brigade or the police come, unfortunately I see a lot of action."
The mum says she gets a maximum of 3 hours sleep a night, making it hard for her to maintain a normal life while frequent panic attacks are making daily tasks increasingly challenging. This was not always Shamicka's life.
No fault...
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