The mum says she is fearful of bumping into her abusive ex and she’s faced constant delays from Hammersmith and Fulham Council in finding her a safe alternative home
A West London mum and domestic violence victim is living in fear of her ex-partner turning up at her property and says poor communication from the council responsible for housing her is making matters worse.
The woman, whose identity we are not disclosing and will refer to as ‘Ms X’, was first referred to Hammersmith and Fulham Council in March 2025 requesting housing support as a victim of domestic abuse.
Since then she said there has been limited progress, with Ms X saying she has had to manage ongoing delays, alongside emails and calls regularly going unanswered. She said there have been times when she doesn’t “want to be here anymore” and that she has struggled to eat and sleep.
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said the local authority has apologised to Ms X and is working with her to secure new and safe accommodation. But all the while Ms X says she is at risk because her ex-partner knows the area well and she could bump into him.
She said she first engaged with Hammersmith and Fulham Council last March when a charity support worker referred her to the local authority.
Ms X lives in a borough neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham, though due to her fleeing domestic abuse she is able to request housing support from councils outside her own area.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she has a support network, a job and her child’s school is in West London but would be much safer in a different area.
Hammersmith and Fulham appeared to be a logical council to approach for support, as she also understood they may be able to offer housing in other nearby boroughs which meet her requirements.
However despite regular calls and emails to the local authority in the months following her referral she said there was no progress, and so she and her daughter went to live with her mother last summer.
In August she filed a stage one complaint raising concerns about the delays to her homeless application being processed. The council responded later that month, acknowledging fault and offering £100 in compensation.
Ms X escalated the complaint to stage two, which was also upheld by Hammersmith and Fulham with an apology offered for “poor communication”. This time a total of £800 was offered, £300 of which was for “distress”.
Ms X said she was eventually sent details of a lower ground floor flat in Ealing but was unable to take it.
She told the LDRS she had flagged certain requests regarding the kind of housing she can accept, including that she cannot move into a ground floor flat. She said this was because of a previous incident when her ex-partner threw bricks through her window, leaving her with trauma and a fear of staying in such a property.
It was around the time the Ealing property was shared that she said the stress got too much.
“I literally had a mental breakdown, like on the verge of suicide type vibe. It was crazy, it sounds crazy today. But I think that’s the point they got me to, just constantly chasing people that should be helping you.”
Ms X ended up having to go to the doctors and struggled eating. The LDRS has seen evidence indicating she was able to sleep for “four hours at a stretch” last autumn.
Eventually, in December, she asked the council to withdraw her application. She told the LDRS she wanted to focus on her mental health and was attending therapy.
Ms X also decided she and her daughter could no longer remain at her mother’s place and returned to their flat.
‘My child needs me’
At the end of last year Ms X got in contact with Hammersmith and Fulham Council to re-apply for housing support.
Asked why she went back to the council given her experience earlier in the year, she said: “I think coming out of the mental place that I was in, having to re-live it and give another council all these details, all these forms, it was just really daunting. And then on top of that I thought ‘you know what, they’ve apologised, surely they wouldn’t do it again?’ I was wrong.”
Since then Ms X said she has encountered many of the same issues, and in February, she was offered £75 after having another stage one complaint upheld. She has since been offered two more properties but said neither is appropriate.
One, for a flat in Delta Point in Croydon, would have required extensive travel to get to work and her child to school. Ms X said other forms of alternative accommodation, such as a refuge, are not on the cards.
“I wouldn’t be able to go back into a refuge because it would just derail me mentally, and I don’t think that that’s okay for my child to see anyways. We’ve already done it once. I’m not in the business of doing it again.”
She has a stage two complaint currently with the council, which she was due to hear back on but this has been delayed until mid-June.
Ms X said the impact of the lack of communication, and her essentially having no alternative appropriate home to move herself and her child into, has led to worsening mental health.
“There’s times that genuinely I don’t want to be here anymore. Times that my mind was just absolutely racing and I just couldn’t stop or I just couldn’t eat. So I think the impact that it’s had on me has been detrimental. I think the only reason I haven’t done something absolutely crazy is because my child needs me.”
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said: “We are working with Ms X to help her secure new and safe accommodation. We have offered Ms X three properties to view and continue to support her and her family with their needs including a referral to provide Ms X with independent specialist support. We have sincerely apologised to Ms X and have reviewed her case to help us make improvements so we can provide the right support and updates first time round.”
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