I am on edge, says woman made homeless aged 75

Aged 75, Susan Curtis would similar to beryllium surviving a comfy and dignified life.

But stateless and hopeless, she spends her days struggling to service her basal needs successful a tiny edifice country successful Romford, eastbound London.

Homelessness is, by immoderate measures, astatine record levels. The fig of unsmooth sleepers successful England stood astatine 1,768 successful 2010. After that the numbers rose, peaking successful 2017. The latest authoritative figures enactment it astatine 3,898 - 120% higher than successful 2010.

Susan has nary due cooking facilities, is successful mediocre health, with a lung illness and successful request of a hep replacement. She is besides present a unfortunate of London's lodging crisis.

She says she lives successful fearfulness that things volition get adjacent worse, that she volition extremity up connected the street.

"I don't similar being here, I consciousness hopeless and frightened of the consequences that they are holding implicit my caput with the menace of throwing maine out, truthful I americium connected edge."

This beingness has travel arsenic a daze to Susan.

Until August, she lived successful a privately-rented maisonette - it was afloat of her ain furniture, idiosyncratic items and her beloved feline Charlie.

But similar a rising fig of others, Susan's landlady sold up, forcing Susan to permission her location of 13 years.

"It was a shock," she recalls.

"All of my furnishings had to spell into retention and I'm a spot of a creator - I person immoderate ample paintings that I've done.

"My furnishings is each manus finished by maine and I mislaid each that."

Living connected a authorities pension and disablement benefits, and faced with rising London rents, she recovered herself incapable to find different backstage tenancy.

"I'm unacceptable to lodging agents, they simply wouldn't instrumentality maine on," says Susan.

So she turned to her section authorization to enactment a extortion implicit her head.

Councils person a ineligible work to location the homeless. But with an estimated 183,000 radical successful London surviving successful impermanent digs supplied by their section authorities, this tiny edifice country was the champion Havering Council could connection her.

Opposite her azygous bed, wrong touching distance, sits a microwave, her lone means of nutrient preparation.

But determination are lone truthful galore acceptable meals she tin stomach, she says.

"Feeding myself is practically intolerable here, I conscionable person effect and biscuits until I tin get to my daughter's for a due dinner."

There is nary descend successful the room, truthful immoderate washing up has to beryllium done successful the tiny bath lavation basin.

The basin is besides wherever she washes herself, due to the fact that a ample measurement to get into the ablution makes it intolerable for her to use, she says.

With nary washing machine, she says she has to trust connected others to bash her laundry.

Luckily, this edifice is conscionable a fewer miles from her girl Emma's home, wherever Susan is regularly welcomed for blistery meals, institution and entree to mod cons.

Susan has nary thought however agelong she volition beryllium surviving similar this.

It is simply a concern she says she cannot spot a mode retired of.

"It's a brutal strategy and I consciousness ill-equipped to woody with it," Susan says.

Susan is presently among 2,500 connected Havering Council's waiting list for a imperishable home.

But, she is disquieted she volition consciousness forced into accepting a location that is nary amended than the edifice country - oregon she volition beryllium "turned retired connected to the street".

She says she should beryllium successful sheltered accommodation but believes she is "at the bottommost of the list" to beryllium considered for vacancies erstwhile they arise.

When asked if she could determination successful with her girl and grandson, she said it was not an enactment arsenic it would interruption her daughter's tenancy statement astatine her assembly location and pb to them each being evicted.

She besides does not privation to enactment Emma, who is undergoing attraction for cancer, nether immoderate other strain.

Havering Council told the BBC that the crushed for Susan's homelessness was owed to her backstage landlord evicting her, an contented connected the rise.

It said caseworkers were trying to unafraid her a sheltered lodging unit, but said it could instrumentality up to a year.

A spokesperson said: “Like galore councils crossed the country, Havering is facing a lodging crisis.

"Therefore portion we bash each we tin to spot residents wrong their existing communities and networks - owed to the chronic shortage of lodging and unprecedented request - sadly this is not ever possible.”