Hillingdon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Hillingdon woman and her autistic daughter were told by the council to accept a home 275 miles away or face homelessness, raising public outcry.
Soheila Serkani, 45, was evicted from her privately leased property last month and told she and her daughter must relocate to Hartlepool.
When the couple became homeless in March, Hillingdon Council took on the responsibility of providing them with a new house, but they only made one offer—in Hartlepool, County Durham, just south of Newcastle.
Soheila had to make the difficult choice to decline the offer after sofa surfing for a few weeks while corresponding with the council regarding whether they would receive assistance.
She was afraid that the drastic change would have a negative effect on her and her daughter’s mental health, force her to quit her job, and separate them from their support system.
Soheila told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS):
“It’s a broken system… totally broken. Even before the eviction it felt impossible to get any help… I have no idea what kind of people are working there [at the council], it’s crazy.
Even if I can’t help myself, or my situation, I think my experience shines a light on the broken system – especially at Hillingdon. I just hope no one else would have to experience what we have.”
The adolescent daughter of Soheila has both ADHD and autism. She also suffers from mental health conditions like suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Since Soheila experiences ongoing anxiety and despair, she worries that the drastic change in their surroundings may have a disastrous effect on their mental health.
Soheila stated that since her daughter became homeless, she has been deeply worried about her well-being.
She said:
“For five years she worked with CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services), and now adult mental health. She depends on me for everything and we’ve been in a state over this.
She has a history of self-harm, and I really am concerned about what would happen if we had taken that move. Her support network of friends and family is so important, but they tried to threaten us and make us move hundreds of miles away – it would be devastating for her.”
Despite providing medical evidence of this to the council, Soheila claims her housing officer told her she is not a high priority, and she is not entitled to further help.
After telling her she’d have to take a home 275 miles away, Soheila alleges that her housing officer said:
“You can’t pay rent in London, you’re not high priority, if you don’t take it I’ll discharge you.”
She added:
“He was so rude, so arrogant, almost like he was putting me down… trying to make me feel ashamed of myself. He didn’t even give me an address, just a postcode. No documents, no door number… he said ‘we will send you in a taxi’.”
Councils are legally required to assist certain individuals who are homeless, but they can also fulfill their obligation if someone is judged to be “intentionally homeless.”
However, given the debilitating housing crisis in London and the rest of the nation, that phrase is occasionally used to describe people who turn down a move, even if doing so would uproot their entire life and leave them alone in a completely new setting, where they would need to find a new job and new schools for their kids.
In addition to caring for her baby, Soheila is currently employed as a support assistant at a special education needs (SEN) school. She would have lost her job and been unable to pay her rent if she had moved to Hartlepool.
According to her, she pleaded with the housing inspector to allow her to remain in London with her friends and family.
She told the LDRS:
“I’m broken. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what we’re going to do. We are totally isolated. It’s scary, it’s really scary. I can’t believe a council can behave like that towards people.”
Soheila claims she encountered ongoing obstacles, inadequate communication, and a lack of empathy when she approached the council to request support prior to her eviction before she became homeless.
“Everything will be okay, just come to the council on the day you’re evicted,”
She says her initial case worker told her.
However, she claims that on the day of her eviction, she had no point of contact who was aware of her situation due to a change in her caseworker and a failure to transfer information between them and other council employees while they were on vacation.
She claims that the Hartlepool offer was the only one available to her, forcing her to sleep on friends’ couches while she persisted in requesting assistance.
Offers from outside the borough, according to Hillingdon Council, “are only made when there are no alternatives in Hillingdon.”
The LDRS questioned Hillingdon Council about why they weren’t given interim housing while a suitable permanent home was sought, and whether this indicates that there aren’t any properties in the entire borough that are suitable for two people at the moment. These questions were not answered by the council.
But speaking to the Ruislip Residents Association on Thursday (April 10), Hillingdon Council Leader Ian Edwards said:
“We have an unusual demand, a rise in homelessness. London is suffering from an epidemic of homelessness.
The private rented sector is collapsing… and this is pushing more and more people onto the council… as rents go up and up and up faster than salaries have. That’s fine, that is what we are here for, we will do our level best to support it.”
Councillor Edwards went on to speak about the number of asylum seekers presenting as homeless in Hillingdon, citing it as a burden.
He said:
“About 80 per cent of those who turn up we don’t have to worry about them because they are young men and [we] don’t have a duty to house them.”
He adds:
“However we are looking at about 20 households every month we do have a duty to, because they are a family, have children, or infirmities. We then have a duty to house these 20 households each and every month, within the UK.
We don’t house them in the borough, they move into the private rented sector, in the most affordable area for us, so usually away from London, and we have to bear the cost.”
Soheila believes this raises questions about whether the council is truthful when it says there are no other options locally for her.
She said:
“They probably are just choosing a cheaper option… to save money over our welfare.”
When approached over Soheila’s case, a Hillingdon Council spokesperson said they cannot comment on individual cases.
It is essential to guarantee that mental health treatments are accessible in the new location. This entails locating new medical professionals and transition-management support organizations.
To lessen feelings of loneliness and offer emotional support at this trying time, it would be crucial to establish a new support system in Hartlepool.
They said:
“We always look to support and accommodate households within the borough. Due to the high demand for affordable housing across London this is not always possible.
Whenever we offer settled accommodation, this always follows a rigorous and robust assessment with the individual of their needs and the affordability of a property.
Offers out of the borough are only made when there are no alternatives in Hillingdon, and the vast majority of homeless households continue to be housed within the borough.”
Several council residences were vacant in spite of the local housing shortage. According to a Freedom of Information request made in October 2024, Hillingdon had 130 unoccupied municipal properties at the time.
In order to address the housing problem, Hillingdon Council was also questioned about the number of vacant homes in the borough that may be rented. 3,092 individuals were on the housing waiting list at the time, out of a total of 1,848.
How does the Hillingdon Council’s decision impact the mental health of the mother and daughter?
Their current support systems, such as social networks, therapists, and medical professionals, may be disrupted by moving to a new location. For someone with autism who may depend on regularity and familiarity, this disruption might intensify feelings of stress and loneliness.
Both the mother and the girl may experience increased anxiety as a result of the uncertainty and stress that come with moving. Because of her autism, the daughter may find environmental changes especially difficult.
Emotional distress may result from the strain of adjusting to a new environment and the worry of losing their homes if they turn down the offer.
This comprises the normal emotions of pessimism, remorse, and inadequacy that people experience when they believe they have little control over their circumstances.