A SINGLE mother is demanding to be given a house close to the school her sons go to.
Nargas Baby has been living in Beaumont Road, Leyton, since April 2015 in a flat allocated by Redbridge Council – but her tenancy is due to come to an end.
The 33-year-old, who is from Pakistan, fears her new house will be too far from George Mitchell School in Farmer Road, Leyton, where her sons, Mahad, seven and Haseeb, five, are pupils.
She is due to be evicted on Thursday (February 2) and will be given somewhere else to live on the day.
She said: “Redbridge Council said they cannot help me until I am evicted and they have not been very helpful. I am really concerned because I don’t know where they will put me and I really want to stay in Waltham Forest near the school.
“I have ankle and knee pain and I am unable to commute on the bus because I feel nauseous. I have a chest infection because of the stress and I am depressed.
“Maybe they will put us in a B and B, wherever they send me I will have to go. I am desperate and I feel like no one is helping me and I am all alone.
“I cried a lot when I received the letter and my son is wetting the bed because of the situation.”
After living in a flat in Redbridge in 2014, the family were moved to a bed and breakfast in Southall, west London, because of anti-social behaviour which made it an unsafe environment for the children.
This meant Mrs Baby had to commute for over an hour every morning for five months to take Mahad to his former school in Goodmayes.
Mrs Baby claims when she told a Redbridge Council officer she was bidding online for permanent accommodation they told her not to bother.
She said: “They said I won’t be able to get permanent accommodation and I would be better going to a mosque.”
Mahad’s teacher at George Mitchell School Ms Nicola Masters believes the family’s case should be treated as a priority.
She said: “Mahad finds it extremely difficult to make friends and to communicate and is at the stage of a four-year-old.
“It has taken him a while to settle in but he has help from a classroom assistant and has his own work station and he is really flourishing.
“It would be extremely detrimental to Mahad to be moved far away and I would say this is a desperate situation.
“It is an emergency and I just feel no one is thinking about the children and their needs. This case should be a priority for the council.”
Waltham Forest Council do not provide housing assistance to people living in the borough for less than two years.
Redbridge Council have been contacted for a comment.
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