Mother's housing despair

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Wednesday 29th Jun 2005.

The father of a disabled mother of two has hit out at housing bosses for moving his daughter into an unsafe, vandalised property.

Charles Poulton-White, of Lower Grange, said the house allocated to his daughter by Bradford West City Housing Trust was dangerous and not suitable for a mother of two with learning difficulties.

The trust has apologised for mistakes in the case of Donna Poulton-White but says it will rectify them as soon as possible.

Mr Poulton-White said: "The property is a complete mess. It is dirty, the windows have been broken and there is glass everywhere. The electricity supply has been destroyed and there is no hot water.

"I can't believe they expect my daughter to move into to a property like this. It's disgusting."

Donna, 30 - who is registered disabled - and her children Joshua Gallagher, four, and Ben Gallagher, seven, were due to move into the property in Oaks Lane, Lower Grange last Friday.

"What should have been a joyous occasion for my daughter and her family has turned into a disaster," said her father.

"Firstly they gave us the wrong keys to the property on Friday which meant we lost our £50 deposit on the removal van hire."

Mr Poulton-White said they could not get into the property over the weekend and that was when the vandalism took place.

"The house had been boarded but when my daughter was given the property, and a date for moving in was agreed, all the boards were removed from the windows," he said.

"If she had been in the house over the weekend as planned this would never have happened."

Steve Short, head of operations at Bradford West City Housing Trust, said: "Unfortunately she was given several keys to the property but not the correct door keys. We apologise for this error.

"The damage to the property is being repaired straight away and broken glass cleared up. We have ordered replacement double glazing for the front windows and these will be fitted within the next three to four days."

Donna wanted to move to the property to be closer to her parents so they could support her in caring for her children.

"I had to wait for a year to get the property and now the whole thing has been soured," she said.

"What should have been a happy day has turned into a nightmare."

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