Jessica Coughlan wants to stay in Islington

A DISABLED mum has told of how she was rushed to hospital after the council informed her that she must move to Dagenham or risk being taken off the social housing register.

Jessica Coughlan, who has three young children, says she has been pleading with the council for help since a breakdown in her relationship left her unable to pay the rent on her private flat in Canonbury. Two of her children have been diagnosed with disabilities and, with no family to help, the single mum says she has been struggling to provide on her own.

She told the Tribune: “In December 2023, I knew I couldn’t manage much more, so I went to work in McDonald’s. At first I was working in there full time, but my son and my youngest daughter have autism and speech delay, and my youngest daughter on top of that has severe asthma that brings me to hospital so many times. Because of that there are so many times that I cannot go to work, and if I don’t go to work, I can’t get paid.”

Ms Coughlan turned to Islington Council for help. They have told her that they do have place for her in temporary accommodation – but in Dagenham.

She said: “I was surprised, I was shocked when they offered me a place in Barking and Dagenham. [They said] if you don’t take this offer, we don’t have a duty to help you.

“I was hit by anxiety, I had to go to A&E, I fainted. They had to give me medication. I thought I was going to die that day.”

Ms Coughlan is one of more than 16,500 people currently on the waiting list for social housing in Islington. The demand means that many are placed in temporary accommodation – increasingly outside the borough – for long stints while they wait.

The mother-of-three said that it was “absolutely impossible” for her family to move to Dagenham.

“How are we going to wake up at five in the morning every single day to be here at school on time?”, she said. “My only support is here in Islington.”

Ms Coughlan said she was now desperate for help, and that the council had stopped replying to her.

She added: “I feel I really need help because the bailiffs can come any minute, and I have nowhere to go. If I didn’t have my kids, I don’t care, I can go and sleep in the streets, I’m an adult, but my kids cannot. That is the situation. It’s about my kids, I’m just defending my kids’ rights. They have the right to have a roof over their heads.”

Islington’s housing chief, Councillor John Woolf, said: “Due to the severe shortage of affordable housing in Islington, many families are unfortunately faced with being placed outside the borough.

“This is not the council’s preferred option, and we continue to work hard to reduce these placements. We’re actively lobbying for more affordable housing to be built both locally and nationally to ensure that Islington families are not displaced from the borough. However, this remains an ongoing challenge without more significant investment in social housing.

“We understand how difficult it is for families facing homelessness, and we continue to advocate for a national solution to the housing crisis and a system that provides long-term, sustainable solutions for families, so they are not left facing the possibility of leaving their communities.”