Winter appeal: 'I was pregnant and homeless after a family rupture and didn't know where to turn'

A laughing, blessed four-year-old miss leaves her schoolroom astatine the extremity of a schoolhouse time and runs to her mother Naomi who sweeps her disconnected her feet successful a loving embrace. Few radical observing this warm, mundane home country would conjecture astatine the unthinkable hardship Naomi faces arsenic a stateless parent connected a regular ground - due to the fact that Naomi is not the look we typically subordinate with homelessness.

Naomi, 31, became stateless 5 years agone aft she fell retired with her family. That was the commencement of a nightmarish ordeal for Naomi that 5 years aboriginal is inactive ongoing, with the assembly dilatory to connection her lodging and yet uncovering her impermanent places to unrecorded that person been unsafe oregon inappropriate for a large mother, and latterly a parent with a young child.

Recently Naomi told her poignant communicative astatine a league successful Cardiff attended by astir 100 authorities lodging officers, section authorities and lodging experts. She was fixed a level by the Centre for Homelessness Impact, a foundation seeking to usage information and grounds (written and oral) to situation homelessness stereotypes and bring astir argumentation changes that volition extremity homelessness. Naomi was besides photographed for the charity’s escaped online room of non-stigmatising images of homelessness.

Greg Hurst, spokesperson for the charity, said: “Most people’s presumption of homelessness is of men sleeping unsmooth successful store doorways, but determination are tons of hidden homeless, including women with children. We privation to situation these stigmas done research, information and imagery to broaden the enactment for tackling homelessness and to bring astir robust interventions that extremity homelessness erstwhile and for all.”

For Naomi, speaking astatine the league was a “surreal” experience, “because aft being ignored by the assembly for truthful long, I was really being listened to by radical successful powerfulness and radical that mattered,” she said. “It gave maine assurance and it made maine consciousness anticipation that immoderate radical successful powerfulness really care.”

Naomi and her girl are 1 of 60,000 London families, with 83,000 children, surviving successful impermanent accommodation and classed arsenic homeless, according to London Councils. It’s a shocking fig made adjacent much shocking successful Naomi’s lawsuit by the magnitude of clip it has dragged on.

£10 could supply a young idiosyncratic question to conscionable a wellbeing mentor and person a blistery meal

£50 could supply question to enactment oregon schoolhouse for a period for an at-risk youth

£150 could refurbish a motorcycle for an big exile giving them state to question independently

£500 could bid 10 radical with acquisition of homelessness to go stateless wellness advocates £1,000 could alteration 1 of our partners to afloat enactment a young idiosyncratic passim the year

To marque a donation visit: comicrelief.com/winter

Initially, said Naomi, the assembly lodging serviceman successful her southbound London borough refused to judge she was large and she was forced to sofa surf astatine friends and astatine the location of the parents of the unborn baby’s father, who is nary longer successful her life. Naomi was struggling with greeting sickness and holding down her occupation astatine a precocious thoroughfare retailer whilst having to bring documents to beryllium her “vulnerable homeless” presumption to the council.

“After 2 months they moved maine into a one-bedroom level successful Tooting,” she said. “It was meant to beryllium impermanent exigency accommodation but my bosom sank erstwhile I saw it. There was damp and mould and it was afloat of mice droppings. I was trying to enactment beardown for my unborn kid but I knew this was not a harmless spot I could bring my new-born location to. I approached the assembly to hole it oregon determination me, but they treated maine similar thing stuck to the bottommost of their footwear and ignored my complaints. I had a breakdown from each the accent portion I was determination and felt wholly abandoned.”

Eventually assembly officers came to inspect Naomi’s flat, reported her problems arsenic valid, and moved her to different impermanent exigency accommodation - a cramped workplace level successful Streatham acquired by the assembly connected license. By past her babe had been calved and was 7 months old. Here determination were antithetic problems, a leaking roof, but it was an improvement. Six months later, the assembly wrote to her to accidental they had “mistakenly forgotten” astir her lawsuit and that they wanted to determination her again.

Naomi said: “When my girl was three, they moved maine to a level successful Elephant and Castle, but the spot had nary state and nary electricity. When I complained, the assembly sent idiosyncratic down who said the spot was a commercialized spot not adjacent zoned for home use. Nobody astatine the assembly responded to my emails and truthful I conscionable went backmost to my Streatham spot as, luckily, I inactive had the key.”

Naomi, who had held her emotions successful cheque during our interview, began to sob. “The assembly dainty maine arsenic if I americium invisible,” she said. “I americium to this time successful the Streatham level but I person nary rights and they tin determination maine connected astatine immoderate clip and if I diminution the move, they tin accidental I person “intentionally made myself homeless” and lavation their hands of me. Whenever I effort and talk to the lodging department, I americium passed from pillar to post. There is conscionable nary consciousness of attraction for my concern whatsoever.”

Her 1 solace, she said, is that her girl is thriving. “She brings truthful overmuch joy,” she said. “I was breaking down a batch reasoning astir my situation, but present I americium learning to effort to rotation with the punches.”

Naomi added: “I americium excited to beryllium a young parent successful London but having an unstable lodging concern is not easy. There are galore things astir my concern I cannot control, but telling my communicative and shedding airy connected the voiceless hidden stateless is important. It makes maine consciousness radical attraction and that I americium seen.”