Housebound Sandwell woman left waiting more than a year for suitable property
A Sandwell woman says she has been trapped in her council house since becoming wheelchair-bound more than a year ago.
Mandy Houghton, 55, has a range of health issues including osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and spinal disc protrusion, for which she takes medication.
For more than a year she has been reliant on a wheelchair, which she says has left her housebound in the Sandwell Council property she has lived in for the past 27 years, at Fairway Avenue in Oldbury.
Letters seen by the Express & Star show that doctors from the Oldbury Health Centre have been writing to Sandwell Council as far back as September 2021 to request that the council "explore the possibility" of finding her alternative accommodation.
The council says it sympathises with Miss Houghton, but that the type of property she has requested - a two-bedroom bungalow - is in short supply. The authority says it is continuing to support her and has made further referrals to its therapy services team.
Miss Houghton said: "I've been a tenant of Sandwell Council for over 30 years and I've had health issues.
"I've come to a point where I'm in a wheelchair and I'm in a property that is not suitable for me.
"I can't get out of the house and I can't bathe properly."
Miss Houghton says she would be willing to move to anywhere in the borough but Smethwick, and that she needs a two-bedroom property to accommodate a friend who visits her regularly to help her day to day.
In a letter seen by the Express & Star to the council from Miss Houghton's doctors at Oldbury Health Centre dated October 7 this year, the medical professionals asked that she be rehoused "urgently".
"I am writing to request that urgent attention is given to Miss Houghton's need for rehousing. In her current situation she is unable to leave the property as she is a wheelchair user and the stairs and entrance are not adapted for this," it says.
"She has been told by occupational therapy/aids and adaptations services that the house is not suitable for adaptation.
"She is currently unable to attend necessary hospital appointments, including an urgent ENT referral because of this situation.
"Her housing situation is therefore inappropriate to her needs and safety, and she needs to be moved to an appropriate accessible ground floor property as a matter of urgency."
Councillor Charn Singh Padda, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for housing, told the Express & Star: “I sympathise with our tenant Mandy Houghton’s situation. I can confirm that the council is continuing to work with her to support her to find more suitable accommodation that meets both her medical needs and her housing preferences.
“The council has assessed her medical needs and awarded appropriate priority for a move to a ground floor flat or bungalow.
“A quicker move may be possible if she wishes to consider more areas in Sandwell and a wider range of accommodation than her current preference for a two-bedroom bungalow – which is a type of property that’s in high demand but short supply.”
