“All my friends live along my street. It’s the government doing it, they should change it.
The council has warned a family that they might be moving 250 miles to Wales after they are evicted in Cornwall from their rented home. They should consider it a “holiday”! Rae Layton (43), a mother-of-three, was sent a shock eviction notification in April. She was told that they may have to move from Ponsanooth, to Cardiff.
Rae was given a notice in July that gave her until July to find a home. However, due to rising rents and increasing property prices, this is impossible. Rae claims that a Cornwall Council housing officer advised her to ‘look at it as a vacation’, despite the fact she had to leave all of her family and friends in order to move to Wales.
Rae stated that the council worker had told her that she could see it as a vacation for her children. It’s a terrible situation, even though she didn’t mean to do anything wrong. I received an email from her on 22 April requesting our exit. It’s all true, it is real.
“People should have the ability to rent another property for a fair price. But people are demanding increasing rental prices.”
Homechoice, Cornwall’s social housing waitinglist, is currently overflowing with families in desperate need. It currently has 15,000 families as of September 2021. Rae was advised by the Cornwall council that she may have to relocate as far as Cardiff if she doesn’t find any emergency accommodation by July.
She stated, “My son has lived in this house since he was born. Growing up, I had to move from pillar-to-post and it was horrible. All of them have made friends. My best friend lives just two days from me. Every evening, we see each other.
“There is so much support that I will miss. All parents look after their children. All my paperwork needs to be sent right now. There are no properties. “They want me to be in emergency accommodation. My friends have been in one for six month. She has been pushed around everywhere.
“I think that when she said it to me, I thought ‘no. I was just thinking about what I would do, as I lay there in bed at night. Because they don’t have an address, the children wouldn’t be allowed to go to school.
Rae said, “All my friends live along my street. The government is doing it. They need to change it.
A spokesperson for Cornwall Council stated that “our priority is to keep people safely, and we are striving to find appropriate emergency accommodation for everyone who needs it.” We understand the situation that some residents are in, as Cornwall continues to be under extreme pressure regarding housing availability.
“We do all we can to keep residents in their communities. Although the council has created emergency accommodation and is refurbishing homes to provide temporary medium-term accommodation, we have to resort to emergency accommodation hotels due to unprecedented demand.
“‘In very limited instances, we might have to offer accommodation in Cornwall for the short-term and as a last resort. We want to assist people in finding long-term homes and help them return to Cornwall as quickly as possible.
