'It's the last straw' - Dudley mum fears living on the streets as she faces eviction with her son
Black Country people facing life on benefits are fighting a constant battle for survival in cost of living crisis Britain.
Whether it’s an unexpected change in circumstances, illness or mental health problems, in the borough of Dudley there are thousands of people coping with seemingly insurmountable challenges – and sometimes finding themselves short of help.
Unemployed Dudley mother Ferristina Peart-Smith aged 57, is under threat of eviction from her rented home and may end up living on the streets.
She said: “I’m trying not to think about that, there is no way I could cope, I have a heart problem and Raynaud’s, I have got so many things going on.”
Ferristina lives with her 22-year-old son who has mental health problems and she is concerned eviction could have disastrous consequences.
She added: “I am more concerned about him than myself, it could push him further or, if it comes up everything just escalates.
“I can’t express how I feel, it is the last straw.”
Paul, from Stourbridge, who asked for his identity to be protected, lost his job after a back condition made it impossible for him to work.
Despite being computer literate he says the benefits system is so complex he needed help, including a five-hour phone call with an advisor from Citizen’s Advice Bureau |(CAB) to make his claim.
Paul said: “It’s a minefield, there is so much information to find out and I’ve not been in this position before.
“It was like a foreign language to me. There are so many acronyms, I tried to do my homework online to find out what I was supposed to be claiming for, I was worried sick.
“You bury your head in the sand. I was getting bailiffs letters, I was bombarded with paperwork and I was shredding it.”
While still in work Paul had fallen behind with council tax and he says only the intervention by the CAB prevented him from ending up in jail.
He added: “I was thrown into a world I know nothing about, I have a laptop and was still struggling.
“If these services weren’t available I would have suffered depression if not suicidal thoughts.”
