I’m 59 and have been evicted for the third time – I’ve been living on a friend’s sofa

When Alessandra was evicted from her rental in Hackney in April, she had mixed feelings. Originally from Rome, she had lived in the 25-square-metre studio with her three cats for 11 years, but it was damp, noisy and cramped. In January, the boiler had broken, leaving her without heating or hot water. There were rats in the building. But on the other hand, the eviction left her homeless for the third time. Alessandra, 59, who preferred not to give her surname, has received universal credit to help pay her rent for the last decade, with her £12.90-per-hour sales assistant salary not enough to cover her £1,191 a month rent and basic living expenses. Shorts She had looked for other places to live, but rents have risen faster than benefit payments. Being a single person without a high-earning guarantor made the task even harder. Alessandra moved to London 24 years ago, having previously lived in Amsterdam. Her experience of the London housing market has been rocky. One property she lived in was owned by a housing association and was erroneously sublet to her by the tenant, whilst on another occasion she says she was in an abusive relationship which led to her having to leave the shared home. The latest eviction was not a shock, as her landlord had sent her four eviction notices since September 2023, which she had successfully challenged. The first was sent by email, she says, contravening what was written in her contract. Another was issued a day too late; one gave an incorrect date for the last gas check. But then she received a Section 21, before they were banned, and there was nothing she could do. Now she is facing homelessness again – unable to afford the steep rents in London. Fewer than two per cent of properties in Britain are now considered affordable for renters on housing benefit, according to a report by Crisis and Citizens Advice published this month. Alessandra had already put herself on the housing register in Hackney, being eligible for support because of her age and lower income. But people on the register can wait for years, and most are never offered a home, according to Hackney council’s website. Paradoxically, Alessandra’s Section 21 eviction, which her landlord issued in autumn last year, gave her the legal framework to apply for homelessness support. She was advised to remain in the property until bailiff enforcement in April, at which point the council would provide temporary accommodation. She said: “It’s crazy. You have to play the game, in a way, to get help. I’m older, and I’m already supposed to be on the housing register.” Due to a shortage of social housing, temporary accommodation is often rented directly from private landlords through councils, which costs around £543m per year in London alone (£2.8bn nationwide) according to the most recent figures. “Councils have a legal duty to prevent homelessness, but temporary accommodation providers are making a significant profit from our housing crisis,” says Clara Collingwood, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition. “Far too often, that ‘accommodation’ is barely fit to live in. In many cases whole families live in one room, making everyday life practically impossible. Unaffordable rents and a chronic shortage of social housing means local authorities —and the people they support— have little alternative.” This was certainly Alessandra’s experience. In April, she was offered a room in Haringey, which was in poor condition. Despite being advertised as pet-friendly, there was no cat flap or access to the garden, and the man next door could see inside. “I thought it was not a safe place to live, but I was forced to accept it.” Alessandra made a housing suitability review request and was offered temporary accommodation in Ilford instead. She moved in last week, having stayed on a friend’s sofa since her eviction in April. It is dirty and run down, she says, with mouse droppings in the kitchen and cockroaches in the fridge. Eventually, she hopes to be allocated sheltered housing, which supports vulnerable older people. But this could take years. “I can’t refuse it,” says Alessandra. “People tell me that I’m lucky they have offered this. I know. I’m happy to work more, but that won’t be enough to pay the rent anyway. I don’t know how to resolve the issue. I didn’t come to this country to end up in a council flat. I came because in London, you feel like you’ve got lots of opportunity.” To Alessandra, who trained as an artist, London feels increasingly hostile, with ever-widening disparities between rich and poor. “I wonder if the landlords realise how much it affects our lives, the fact that the house is damp, the boiler is gone, the poor quality. It’s shocking that in London, one of the richest cities in Europe, the standard of living is very low.” “The Renters’ Rights Act has introduced vital new rights and protections for renters, but action on the cost of renting is a missing piece of the puzzle,” Collingworth said. “Rising rents, which have outpaced wage growth for 11 of the last 15 years, will continue to fuel our housing crisis and put pressure on stretched council and government budgets. The government must put a lid on this before things get worse by introducing a cap on rent increases.” According to Shelter, there are around 382,618 people who are now homeless in England, with 350,480 of those in temporary accommodation, like Alessandra. “People think homelessness is just the people we see on the street, but there’s lots of women out there, and lots of silent homeless like me, going from one sofa to the other,” she says. “You don’t have your life when you’re homeless, because everything’s in the garage, and you can’t do your normal things. “A house is a human right. I just want a decent place to live. I don’t want luxury; I don’t have to live in central London. I’m just asking to sleep well.”