A family being evicted from a rented home in Cornwall have been warned by the council they could be moved 250 miles to Wales - and they should see it as “a holiday''. Mum-of-three Rae Layton, 43, was given a shock eviction notice in April and told they might have to move from Ponsanooth to Cardiff.
The notice has given Rae until July to find a new home but due to increasing rent and property prices this has proven impossible. Rae says a housing officer at Cornwall Council said despite having to leave family and friends to move to Wales she should 'look at it like a holiday'.
Rae said: "The council worker told me that my kids can look at it as a holiday. She didn't mean anything bad by it but it's just a horrible situation to be in. On the 22nd April I got an email saying she wanted us out. I get it, I get all of it.
"People should be able to go fair enough and get another rental property. But people are demanding increasing rental prices.''
Homechoice, Cornwall’s social housing waiting list, is currently inundated with families in need, with currently 15,000 families on it as of September 2021. Cornwall council has advised Rae that she could have to move as far as Cardiff for emergency accommodation if she does not find anything by July.
She said: "My son has been in that house since he was born. I moved from pillar to post when I was growing up and I hated it. They’ve all got friends. My best friend lives two days away from me, every evening we see each other.
''There’s such a big support network that I’m gonna miss. All the parents watch everyone’s kids. At the minute, I have to send off all my paperwork. There aren’t any properties. 'They want to put me in emergency accommodation, my friends been in one for six months. She's been pushed here there and everywhere.
"I think when she told me I kind of thought 'no'. I just laid there at night, thinking what would I do. The kids wouldn’t be able to go to school as they wouldn’t have an address.''
Rae added: ""All my friends live on my road. It's the government that are doing it, they need to change it."
A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: "Our priority is to keep people safe, and we are working hard to find suitable emergency accommodation for all those who need it. We sympathise with the position that some residents are finding themselves in as Cornwall continues to face extreme pressure on the availability of housing.
''We do everything possible to keep residents within their own communities. The council has established emergency accommodation and is buying and refurbishing homes to provide medium-term temporary accommodation, but the current unprecedented demand does mean that we are having to use emergency accommodation hotels.
''In a very small number of instances, we may have to offer accommodation outside Cornwall in the short term and as a last resort. We seek to move people back as soon as we can Cornwall and continue to offer support to help them find long-term homes."
