Mum of girl with rare health condition blasts Sheffield Council for ‘refusing’ to allow family on housing register

Amy Bradshaw currently lives in a privately rented property in Southey Green with her partner and two daughters – Autumn, who is three-months-old and Faith, aged seven, who has Williams Syndrome, a condition which causes learning disabilities.

The 32-year-old says the house is “dangerous” as the garden regularly floods and people are often seen selling drugs on the road nearby.

Since May last year, the concerned mum has been trying to rejoin Sheffield Council’s housing waiting list but says she has been refused due to an ongoing dispute over £450 owed on a property she lived in seven years ago.

Amy said: “We’re in a two bedroom house at the moment but with Faith’s needs and with her behaviour she won’t be able to share a bedroom with her sister.

"It’s all because I wouldn’t wait over an hour for Burngreave Housing Office to give me a paper receipt to say I handed the keys in for the property.”

Amy claims to know that Sheffield Council has written off other people’s rent arrears and debt – sometimes for sums larger than hers – yet she is still stuck with the mark against her name.

She says the dispute is now putting Faith at risk as she can't play outside due to beer cans and drug paraphenalia being regularly thrown into the garden.

The seven-year-old also recently had a “meltdown” and won’t settle in the house as she thinks people are trying to get inside.

Amy added: "They’re saying I can’t move because I owe over £400. It’s not for me it’s for my child, that’s like neglecting a child’s needs.”

Councillor Paul Wood, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety, said: "We have been in contact with Miss Bradshaw regarding her current housing position and are in the process of discussing how we can accommodate her individual needs.

“While Miss Bradshaw is not currently living in a council property we are giving her appropriate advice and support that will help her to start bidding for one of our properties through the council's Choice Based Lettings system."

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