The Corby family living in a Travelodge on the side of the A45

Life on the Lincoln estate wasn’t perfect for Natalie, Frank and their little girl, but it was home.

When the bailiffs arrived to evict them last Wednesday, their lovely neighbours came out to tell them how sad they were that they were leaving.

It’s one of Corby’s most deprived areas – and the cheapest to live in – but their house had three bedrooms and loads of space outside for their little girl to play.

And it was infinitely better than the 6m x 4m room they’re all squished into now, with a bag-for-life full of pot noodles, another of Monster Munch, and a tiny two-cup kettle. Their ‘kitchen’ is in a cardboard box.

Their new home is the Travelodge next to a petrol station on the A45 between Rushden and Wellingborough. I meet them here because that’s where the council have placed them, 20 miles from home, school and work and with no way of cooking or washing their clothes.

‘She kept on putting the rent up’

"I feel like I’m letting my child down,” said Natalie Wilson, who was born and bred on the Beanfield estate.

"She keeps asking when we’re going back. I don’t know what effect this is going to have on her.”

When they moved into their terraced home in Scotter Walk four years ago the rent was £600 per month. It was tight with a baby and one wage, but doable.

The place had previously been a drug den and was burgled just after they started living there. It was no palace.

As time went on, the landlady, who lives outside Northamptonshire, kept putting the rent up. Eventually it had risen by more than a third. Added to the cost of living hike and rising fuel bills, it was just too much for the couple.

When Natalie’s partner Frank Muir was furloughed during the pandemic, things started to get really difficult.

"It went up to £730, then £800, then £830, said Natalie. “We were trying our best. It was constant. I asked the council if we could get any help with the rent but they couldn’t.

‘Just a young family trying to survive’

Frank, visibly upset about the situation they’ve found themselves in, said: “We told the landlady we were struggling but she started making suggestions about where we could save money and told us she had also had to tighten her belt. She’s got a load of houses she rents out in Corby. I don’t think she has any idea what it’s like for us.

"She said that when we move out she’s going to rent each room out individually and she’ll make more money.”

The couple fell into arrears last August and the landlady then sent them a Section 21 notice to formally evict them. Natalie immediately phoned North Northamptonshire Council to let them know what had happened and they were told to sit tight and wait to be evicted or else they could be classed as having made themselves homeless, making them ineligible for help.

The pair went to the county court in November to plead their case but in a ten minute hearing the possession order was granted.

"We went in there to show them we’re just a young family trying to survive,” said Natalie.

"We just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Another private rental was out of the question. There was nothing in their budget available and their arrears had eaten any hope of getting back their deposit.

I just thought ‘it’s worst case scenario’

And they aren’t alone. Like so many other families, they’d fallen victim to a chronic lack of social housing which is fuelling a dearth of private rentals and pushing up prices to way beyond the average wage in Corby – where workers are among the lowest paid in Britain.

They packed up their things, forking out for expensive storage, and waited.

Bailiffs and the landlady arrived last week with a locksmith to make sure they left. Natalie and Frank went to the Corby Cube to tell the council’s housing team they’d been made homeless and to ask for help.

"I just thought ‘it’s worst case scenario’” said Frank, when he heard they were going to live in a hotel.

"They asked us would we accept it, but we had no choice. They said that other people get put in places as far away as Liverpool or Luton.

"They wouldn’t treat dogs like this.”

NNC have since told this newspaper that they have never placed any family in either of those locations.

The two-storey budget hotel they were moved to is next to a slip-road service station in the shadow of Rushden Lakes. The only pedestrian route to the Lakes is through a car park and along a rubbish-strewn path. And when they get there, their budget unsurprisingly doesn’t run to a Five Guys.

They’re not allowed a microwave or a fridge so their diet is strictly limited to what they can buy pre-packaged or make with their tiny kettle of boiling water. They tried to wash their clothes in the bath but couldn’t dry them, so they’ve had to leave them soaking wet, folded, until Natalie’s mum can come to take them back to her house to wash them.

Their beloved dog Molly has been sent to live with a relative.

A five-hour round trip to work

A walk to the bus stop, two buses later, another walk and the same back again means nearly a five-hour round trip for Frank to his full time job in Corby every day. He’ll leave their room at 6.30am and be back for about 8pm and will have to pay £40 per week in bus fares for the privilege. He used to ride his bike to work.

"I love my job,” said Frank. “I will do everything I can to hold on to it. It’s going to be tough.”

When their little girl started school at Danesholme Infants in September Natalie managed to find a job in school hours, but lost it when she had to stay at home to look after her daughter who – like all other reception starters – picked up bugs at school.

The commute to school now is just too far.

"She’d just be far too tired if we had to get her out of bed at 6am,” said Natalie.

"She’s only four. It’s too far to walk to the bus stop and then the two buses would be too much. Thankfully it’s half term this week so we have some time to work out what to do.”

There’s a pink doll’s house on the floor for her to play with and they couple have moved her single bed right next to theirs so that there’s a bit more floor space.

They’ve no idea how long they’ll be in the Travelodge.

“It’s just a waiting game," said Natalie.

"We’ve found hotels in Corby that will take us but the council says they’re not on their ‘list’.”

The couple have not had access to the ‘list’.

At the moment, it’s indefinite

Meanwhile they’re trying to make the most of the situation.

"We’ve got a TV and a a roof over our heads,” said Frank. “There are people in worse situations.

"If we knew how long we’d be here could tell our daughter we’re just on holiday, but at the moment it’s indefinite.”

Corby councillor Mark Pengelly is helping the family although they do not live in his ward.

He said: “We know there’s space for them in a hotel in Corby and where they are is absolutely not suitable.

"They’ve not been given any help with food vouchers and they can’t afford to be eating at Rushden Lakes every day. They need a home.

"I’ve had several residents come to me about being placed out of Corby and during the scrutiny review I put it to the executive that this was having a massive effect on people.

"They said that only a few people were in ‘out-of-area’ placements but then again they say that the whole of North Northamptonshire is now ‘in area’.

"It’s impossible for a mum to get her child to school when the school’s in Corby and the hotel’s in Rushden.”

Before 2021, when the area’s five councils were merged to form NNC, offering accommodation in Rushden for people from Corby would have been classed as ‘out of area’ and a red flag for most councils. But since the unitary authority came into power, it’s no longer in a different area and so is deemed acceptable.

There were 417 homeless approaches to North Northants Council in December

It’s thought there are about eight families with children in North Northants in a similar situation to Natalie’s family, and many more single people living in hotels.

The council’s latest figures show that the number of people applying to their Keyways housing system is going up every month – with 4,486 applicants currently on the waiting list.

On vesting day in April 2021, 50 households were in temporary accommodation outside of Northamptonshire – that’s a figure that the housing team has worked hard to bring right down. Placing people in hotels is an absolute last resort for them.

There are 209 households in temporary accommodation, with only one of them placed outside of Northamptonshire.

During the past year, the number of people presenting as homeless to the council has risen sharply, with 417 approaches in December alone and 3,154 since last April.

Other councils are under similar pressure, or worse, so the chances of getting a council house in any other area are close to zero. In November, nearby Leicester City Council declared a housing crisis.

A two-bedroomed private rental house in Corby is now £825pcm, with a similar house in Uppingham priced at £650pcm and in Kettering at £750pcm.

Last year the Northants Telegraph reported on how the proliferation of London-based owners of Houses in Multiple Occupation in Corby was fuelling unrealistic house prices.

And last week it was revealed that NNC had been given a £3.2m grant to buy much-needed houses to get Afghan and Ukrainian refugees out of temporary housing. But in a strategy that will only fuel the bad feeling toward refugees in some parts of society, the council also has to use £3.7m from its own, already-stretched Homelessness Prevention Fund.

Questions for the council

We asked North Northamptonshire Council the following questions on Friday (February 10) which they have answered this afternoon (Monday):

1) How many North Northants families with children are currently in temporary hotel accommodation?

The council said there are 5 households with six dependent children in total in hotel accommodation in North Northants. A spokesman added: “The Council takes very seriously the need to ensure that no family with dependent children is housed in hotel accommodation for more than six weeks and currently exceeds this target through robust ‘move-on’ planning and priority identification of alternative temporary accommodation for such households in hotels.

2) Why can the family not be moved to a hotel in Corby, and 3) Is a Travelodge in a service station next to a busy A-road really considered suitable for a young family?

NNC said they are not purposefully placing people away from their connections – but in accommodation that is available in the local authority area. The spokesman said: “Whilst we repeatedly are told more local hotels (in Corby) have capacity, our teams regularly approach them and they refuse to take people, particularly when they are aware it is a temporary accommodation arrangement. We have no powers to force a hotel to accept a resident.

“We regularly review TA placements and seek to bring people closer to their connections when we can, however we have to prioritise who is moved first based on need. NNC assess the needs of those we are working with who are at risk of homelessness, most of them have a range of needs and the team have to prioritise those accordingly.

4) How long can they, and others with children, be expected to wait on average before they're moved out of hotel accommodation?

The council said that the families would only normally stay for a maximum of two weeks. The spokesman added: “A very small percentage of families have to spend time in B&B as evidenced by the data above and the team works hard to ensure that this is a last resort.”

5) Generally, what is NNC doing to combat the severe shortage of both council and private rented accommodation that is pushing prices up to beyond what the average person can afford?

A spokesman said: “There are a wide range of initiatives that are being delivered or are planned to address the mismatch between the demand and supply for temporary and settled accommodation, however clearly, there are constraints and barriers outside of NNC control too.

“We are currently developing our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and we have both accessed and are bidding for various grant funding.”

Stephanie Kiteley

Another person who’s been ‘housed’ in the Travelodge is Stephanie Kiteley. She was moved out of her Grand Union housing association home in Spinney Road, Rushden, last month after a fire caused extensive damage to the property.

Because of her significant health conditions, she was allowed to bring her beautiful support dog Ray with her.

She spends her days walking Ray around the car park and waiting for news.

She said: “They’ve offered me another place but I don’t want a permanent move, I liked where I lived. I just want them to repair my home so I can go back.

“They haven’t even started yet. There were no smoke alarms in the house so the damage was bad.

"I’m having to go backwards and forwards every day to Rushden as I’ve got two cats there.

"The staff here are really nice but sometimes they put some of the homeless men in here and they smoke crack out of the window.”

There just isn’t enough affordable social housing in the country

Grand Union’s director of customer experience Naomi Sweeting said that a lack of temporary accommodation locally had worsened Stefanie’s situation. She said: “Due to the significant damage from the fire, Miss Kiteley’s home will not be ready for her to move back into for a few months.

Since the fire, our teams have been working with Miss Kiteley to find more suitable temporary accommodation.

“We understand that staying where she is currently is far from ideal, but unfortunately suitable accommodation for Miss Kiteley’s needs is in short supply in the area.

“Whilst we’re doing our bit by building record numbers of new homes each year, there just isn’t enough affordable social housing in the country.

“Sadly, this means that when incidents happen like the fire at Miss Kiteley’s home, we cannot guarantee a similar property to move into, even on a temporary basis.

“So far, we have offered Miss Kiteley two alternative properties, but she turned both down. One potential property has recently been vacated in the area she wants to live, but this could take up to six weeks to prepare for her.

“We’ve also offered to pay for taxis so she can still get to her appointments but have not heard back from her on this.

“Once a suitable home has been found, our customer partner team will look to work with her to provide ongoing support.”