'Landlord kicked my family out 5 days before Christmas and served my child the eviction notice'
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This Christmas has been extra special for Emma Hayes and her young family. “We really went to town on it this year with lots of decorations,” she says. “Knowing we would wake up safely in our own home on Christmas Day.” Last year was a very different story. After battling a 25% rent increase, the family found themselves facing eviction on December 20.
“Five days before Christmas Day, there was a knock at the door,” Emma, 36, from Harlow, remembers. “It was 8am, so my daughter went, thinking it was Nanny.” Her eight-year-old was instead handed a Section 21 ‘no-fault eviction’ notice. “The landlady gave it to her,” says Emma. “She said her son needed the property. I tried to put on a brave face, but I was in shock, heartbroken. I felt like such a bad mum.”.
A year on, with the help of Shelter, Emma has found a new place to rent with her partner Josh and two kids. But their story cuts to the heart of what the housing crisis really means – and why solving it is at the top of the Government’s list of problems. It’s not a crisis of bricks and mortar but of homes – safe places where people can put up a Christmas tree or spend time with family.
Housing charity Shelter says that safety will be denied to an estimated 354,000 people this Christmas, including 161,500 children, who will be homeless as the year draws to a close. This year, the number of households with children who were either threatened with homelessness or already homeless increased by 3.9%.
