Nicolle Lee, 33, has moved 14 times since the age of 18 and says she is looking for a secure home where her young family can settle
“Every day and every night I cry because of the fact that I am letting my children down,” said young mum-of-three Nicolle Lee. “That is how I feel, that I am letting them down because I cannot secure a property for them, and that we are having to move all the time.”
Sirens and revving engines from the Whitehorse Road outside blared through the windows of Nicolle’s cramped flat as she described her exhausting 14-year struggle to secure a safe and stable home for her three young children. Despite being only 33, Croydon-born Nicolle has called 14 different places home since turning 18.
None of these moves were by choice, and the housing cycle of shifting between B&Bs and friends’ sofas has only been made harder by the birth of her three children, two of whom have special educational needs. Nicolle also has a seven-week-old premature baby who, because of the needs of her other two children, has no choice but to sleep beside her in the kitchen of their flat on Limes Road — next to the air fryer and other household appliances.
Nicolle’s housing battle began when she was 18, shortly after the birth of her eldest daughter, when she had to leave her mother’s house in Croydon due to a lack of space. It was then that she first approached Croydon Council for help as a homeless individual.
What followed, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), was a cycle of short-term council placements, private lets and temporary accommodation both in and out of her home borough. “This goes back 14 years, that is how long I have been fighting the council,” she said.
Over the years, Nicolle has moved from a council-appointed loft property in South Croydon to a one-bedroom flat in Forestdale, spending only short periods in each home before private landlords evicted her.
In 2013, she had to move out of the area entirely due to a lack of housing options available. She settled in accommodation in Dagenham, where she says she was initially stable, with her young daughter attending a local school.
“I was happy and settled in Dagenham,” she said. “I got used to the fact of being away from my family. I thought I was going to be there for a long time.”
Yet that stability soon unravelled when, after two and a half years in the property, she was once again facing eviction. Nicolle says she was later told the tenancy had collapsed because rent had not been paid by Dagenham Council, a revelation that came as a shock, as she says she had received no warning letters and was unaware there was an issue at the time.
Nicolle was forced to return to Croydon, where she was placed in a series of B&Bs, including stays in Streatham and East Croydon, before later being housed at Gilroy Court on London Road. During this period, she and her children also relied on friends for somewhere to stay, sleeping on sofas and floors.
“When I came back to Croydon my health started going downhill and my disabilities got much worse,” she told the LDRS. Around this period, Nicolle says she tragically lost a child through stillbirth, marking a traumatic chapter in her life. She says this time was followed by severe emotional distress, during which she made a number of attempts on her own life.s.
Despite her trauma, Nicolle says she has not received the help and sympathy she expected from Croydon Council during her housing struggle. Recalling one particularly painful incident, she said: “When I said I was still in the process of grieving, my housing officer said that is no excuse to be intentionally homeless.”
“I nearly gave up fighting because of that comment,” she added. “They need to have a bit of sympathy and realise what is going on with us.”
Since then, Nicolle says she has been trapped in the precarious private rented sector, moving between temporary arrangements on St James Road and eventually to her current flat on Limes Road, which she moved into in April 2024. She has been dependent on finding her own private accommodation each time, having only recently been put on Croydon’s council housing bidding system.
She believes this should have happened years earlier, and that the delay left her trapped in the private rented sector. “I could have found something if I was on the bidding system since 2023,” she said.
Despite the cramped conditions, the Limes Road property has at least provided a roof over the family’s heads and kept Nicolle close to her children’s schools. However, in the latest twist in her housing struggle, a sharp rent increase means she now faces the prospect of searching for a 15th home before the end of the year.
The increase has brought her monthly payments to £2,100, leaving her with an unaffordable shortfall of around £600. This adds further pressure for the young mum, who was already struggling to keep up with the rent even before the rise.
“There have been times where I have not been eating so that my kids eat just to pay the rent,” she said, adding that she would often eat only the scraps left by her children to get her through the day.
She says she must use her Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment to cover rent, leaving her reliant on her carer’s allowance for day-to-day living. This is further compounded by the fact that she is not permitted to use her children’s Disability Living Allowance towards rent or household bills.
Being unable to sustain these increased monthly payments, Nicolle now expects eviction by her private landlord by October, at which point she will become homeless. “I’m scared they are going to say I am making myself intentionally homeless again because I can’t pay the rent,” she told the LDRS.
“I have always paid my rent, I even pay extra rent and always before the due date. I always keep my house clean, so there was no problems with me,” she added.
Several experts have visited the Limes Road flat following Nicolle’s complaints about the lack of space and its unsuitability for her young children’s complex needs. She has shared reports from mental health teams, occupational therapists, schools and social workers with the LDRS, all of which evidence her claim.
“I have got thousands of emails sent to the council showing photo evidence of professional letters,” she said. “They all say how unsafe and overcrowded it is in here.”
Despite sharing these with the Croydon housing team handling her case, she believes they are not being taken into account. “They know me and my premature daughter are sleeping in the kitchen,” she said. “The only thing that I do not appreciate is that they have lied and said that it is OK for me to reside here.”
She says her housing manager has not contacted her since February, despite her impending housing crisis. She has also sought help from local politicians, including her local MP Sarah Jones and recently re-elected Jason Perry, but says their involvement has so far failed to bring about any change.
“I need a home for me and my children where we never have to go through this again,” she told the LDRS from the sofa in her lounge — a space only recently separated from her kitchen-bedroom by a hastily installed wall put up by her landlord.
Reflecting on the impact on her children, she said: “My daughter is at an age where she doesn’t fully understand, but she thinks it’s my fault because I’m her mum and I should be able to help her with this. She cries every night and goes into her bedroom and locks herself away.”
She added: “They need to give my children that stability, stop making them move schools. Let them be happy, and let them be kids. I just hope the council sees I have gone this far and helps me.”
Croydon Council was approached for comment.
SIGN our petition calling on UK Government to ban councils from making people homeless if they refuse long distance housing moves.
