Help young family made homeless by neighbour's house fire

On 25th January as Harriet and her young family were having breakfast, they heard panic and banging outside. It was neighbours telling them that their next door neighbour’s house was on fire. The family had to quickly escape and watch as their home was devastated by flames and then water damage from the fire being put out. .

Harriet, who is on maternity leave with a 3 month old, was allowed to enter the property with a fireman to grab one bag worth of belongings for her whole family. Everything was smoke damaged and one small bag held nothing like what a family needs with an 8yr old, a 1 year old and a 3 month old.

Harriet and her family were moved to temporary accommodation by the council. They were placed in one room for the 5 of them - no cooking facilities, no space for the babies to play, and no space for the eldest to dance.

The hotel the council placed the family in is in constant use by the homeless department for individuals who are in the grips of addiction and drug use. The family were all terrified for their safety as the children were exposed to so much violence and aggression in the corridors and outside their room.

Harriet’s eldest went into shock and started cyclical vomiting as a trauma response. She was rushed to hospital and treated overnight. When the doctors were ready to discharge her, they were told of the housing situation and refused to release her as it was deemed a safeguarding risk to go back to that property.

This then generated a children's services referral for inappropriate housing from the hospital. Children’s services agreed with the hospital’s decision and said that the family should not go back to the hotel.

Harriet continued to put pressure on the landlord and he agreed to pay for 2 nights hotel accommodation for the family, at The Heritage Park hotel, a local hotel that was not used by the council homeless team.

The homeless department then wanted to put the family back into the original homeless hotel, refusing to acknowledge the issues raised by the Royal Glamorgan Hospital doctors, or children's services.

Harriet, again, fought her case with the landlord and he agreed to cover the cost of an Air BnB property until 21st February. He has then said his responsibility for the rental contract and housing provision will end as that is the date her next rent payment would be due. So far the landlord has not returned the family’s bond.

Harriet has been pushing Chris Bryant, Rhondda MP, and the council to either continue to fund the air bnb until a suitable temporary accommodation space has been found or until they find suitable private accommodation. So far, even though the MPs office has supported Harriet’s bid for suitable accommodation, the council's homeless team keep saying they will move her to the hotel where adult addicts are housed. They even threatened her with a children’s services referral if she refused to accept the hotel, as she would be making herself homeless with 3 children. Despite Harriet pointing out that children's services already had agreed the hotel was not suitable and a risk to the children.

Harriet is now battling with different council departments, insurance companies and the staff at the MP’s office, when all she should be doing is enjoying her maternity leave.

The insurance company has said that her insurance policy is ‘under insured’ and despite losing everything, they will reduce her claim as they don’t think she was properly covered. So she won’t even get the amount of the policy that was paid for.

The family has lost everything as the property was rented unfurnished and they now need to replace white goods, essential furniture and clothes for all 5 of them. The children are suffering and there is no end in sight.

We would like to raise money to cover the costs of replacing some of the essentials that were lost to the neighbour’s fire, and to provide the family with enough to recoup the money spent when living in hotels and not being able to cook - living in hotels is expensive and the family are paying out more than they can afford on maternity pay.

Harriet has always volunteered and had jobs helping others in the community, and she now needs support to do the same for her family.

Any donation will massively help.

UPDATE: Harriet has sourced a private tenancy beginning on 21st February (Friday). She’s scraped enough together to pay for the bond. She’s extremely concerned about furnishing it, as it’s another unfurnished property and all her furniture and white goods are not salvageable. As well as replacing the kids' clothing, christmas presents and birthday presents that they’ve just had.