Hostel ordeal continues, despite ombudsman’s ‘significant injustice’ ruling

A woman who has been forced to live with her disabled daughter in an inaccessible hostel for more than three years says she can see no end to their ordeal, despite an ombudsman ruling that her local council had caused them “significant injustice”.

Zara Rahimi* says her teenage daughter Aisha* has had numerous seizures and falls while using their bedsit’s cramped shower room, while Zara has damaged her back when trying to protect her.

The regular testing of the hostel’s fire alarm system – without warning – has also caused Aisha to have further seizures, and it has left her terrified and struggling with significant depression and anxiety.

Zara said they have been left for more than three years in living conditions which are “very dangerous” and are putting her daughter’s life at risk, with no support.

It was only in January this year that Hammersmith and Fulham council finally agreed to warn Zara in advance when the alarms would be going off, so she could ensure her daughter – who is autistic, has a sensory disorder, and has learning difficulties – was wearing headphones to block out the noise, or they could leave the building.

Zara has even been threatened with eviction after she has been unable to evacuate their bedsit – because Aisha was having a seizure – when fire alarms have been set off by other tenants smoking drugs in the hostel in the early hours of the morning.

Aisha has also had just seven months of education in the last three years.

Zara said: “It is just a living nightmare. We are being treated very badly.”

She believes the council is victimising her for raising complaints about the way she and her daughter have been treated, some of which have been upheld by a council complaint panel.

Zara also believes the council has breached her rights over the way it has dealt with her complaints.

She said: “The council has discriminated against us, victimised me and I am being treated badly for simply raising legitimate complaints against the failing of the system.

“I am severely traumatised by the way the council is treating me and my daughter.”

She first approached Hammersmith and Fulham council for help in 2018 after they had to leave their home because constant loud music being played by their neighbours was causing Aisha to have seizures.

They moved into the bedsit in the council-run hostel as a “temporary” solution in November 2018.

But it then took 10 months for the council’s occupational therapist to conclude that the cramped accommodation was unsuitable.

Even then, the council failed to respond to the occupational therapist’s report for another three months.

The local authority initially insisted that the bedsit was suitable for Zara and her daughter, but a few days later, in January 2019, it finally accepted it was unsuitable, after its medical adviser reviewed their case.

Despite claiming it was placing them on the accelerated transfer list, the council failed to do this for another 13 months.

It later claimed there was a shortage of suitable accommodation in the area, while also blaming the impact of the pandemic.

But the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has now found that the council’s failure to place them in suitable housing caused Zara and Aisha a “significant injustice”.

It ruled that the council must apologise to Zara and pay her £250 for every month she has been living in unsuitable accommodation, and that it must continue to do so while she is living in unsuitable housing.

The council has agreed to the ombudsman’s recommendations.

But three months on from the ruling, Zara and Aisha are still living in the hostel, and Hammersmith and Fulham council has told Zara there is no chance of them moving “in the foreseeable future”.

She told DNS that she has no faith in the council finding them suitable housing, and that she believed the council would prefer to keep paying £250 a month in compensation.

She added: “No amount of money will make up for the suffering the council has put us through.”

A council spokesperson said: “We reiterate our apology to [Zara] and her family.

“We acknowledge the ombudsman’s findings and have acted on all the recommendations.

“We have considered the family for alternative accommodation on four previous occasions. However, the properties proved to be unsuitable.

“There continues to be a severe shortage of appropriate and affordable accommodation for people with the family’s needs but we have now identified a suitable home and hope to arrange a viewing with the family soon, once contractors confirm it is safe to do so.

“In the meantime, we will continue to support [Zara] and her family before and after they move.”

*Not their real names

Picture: Hammersmith and Fulham Town Hall, by Google

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