'We're in a homeless centre after mass eviction'

In July 2023, 13 families on the same street received eviction letters telling them the landlord was selling their homes. Most have now left, but not everyone has been able to find somewhere to go.

Kirsty Waite and her family lived in their home in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, for 13 years.

For them, the former military property was perfect - children on the estate would play outside together and their school was round the corner.

“We loved it, my kids grew up with the other kids on that block and it just worked," the 35-year-old says.

“Christmases in there, birthday parties, in the summer all the kids played on the field out the front, slip and slides, football matches, picnics and what not.”

The town is home to the largest British Army base in the world, which has placed a unique strain on local housing demand.

Kirsty, her partner and their four children are now living in one room at a homeless centre.

Talking outside her empty former home on Essex Close, she can see that many others on the block have also been vacated.

It's a bright autumn day, but no children are playing on the lawn.

Last year she and her neighbours were informed that Annington, one of the UK's largest landlords, intended to sell their houses.

The company owns more than 40,000 units and many were used by the Army for services family accommodation before the Ministry of Defence sold them in 1996.

Of the 13 affected families, seven left before formal eviction proceedings began.

The other six were issued with Section 21 notices, known as no-fault evictions, with the homes sold on the private market via estate agents.

“It was a bit of a kick in the teeth to be honest," says Kirsty, who works as a holiday lets cleaner.

“We didn’t envision ever having to move out of that house. As far as we were concerned that was our home and it was always going to be our home.

“All the relationships we had we’re going to have to rebuild and start over.”

During the family's time on the street, they paid Annington more than £97,000 in rent.

Kirsty says she was paying £650 in rent a month when they were evicted.

In the year between receiving the notice and being formally evicted, she says she tried everything.

She was applying for private lets as they became available, but they were highly competitive and significantly more expensive than her former home.

She signed up for council housing, but struggled to find anything that suited their needs.

In June, just before the bailiffs were due to arrive, Kirsty was out of options.

The only place the family could go was the local homeless centre, with all six of them now staying in one room.

“There are two bunk beds in there, there’s a double bed and there’s a fold-up dining table,” she says.

“It’s like a pressure cooker, everyone’s just one small incident away from having a complete meltdown and saying ‘I can’t cope anymore’.”

Despite having a roof over their heads, she says the situation is testing for her children, with two aged 12, along with a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old.

She continues: “I’m eternally grateful that we’ve not ended up in a tent on the street, but we are struggling.

“I’m beyond proud of how my kids are taking it in their stride, it’s not something you want to put your kids through.

“To be honest, there are days where I’ve felt like an absolute failure.

“I’m working as much as I possibly can.”

Power over her future is something Claire Griffin also feels she lacks.

Claire, 32, is still in her house on Essex Close with her two sons and they are also being evicted after seven years.

“I’m not scared, it’s just this constant pressure," she says.

“I need to do all these things but there’s nothing I can do, it’s just a horrible waiting game."

Claire, whose sons are aged 11 and four, says: “As soon as I got the initial letter, I phoned the council.

“I was advised to try to bid on private rentals, just bid, bid, bid.”

Claire, who has a part-time role at a fast food restaurant, was shocked when she saw the cost of private rental properties in the area, with rents "unaffordable".

When the BBC checked a popular housing website, there were only two two-bedroom properties available to rent in Catterick Garrison, costing £795 and £800 per month. No other houses were advertised.

Local councillor Kevin Foster says the unique factors at play in the area create an unsettled outlook for those looking for accommodation.

“It’s a great place to live. The Army are great, we want them here," the Green Party councillor says. “However, it has a constant flow of people."

He continues: “When service personnel come out of the military they get a gold banding to get a council house, so we have to house them as a priority.

“That means we have a constant flow of people wanting council houses that we don’t have.”

This issue combined with rented properties such as Essex Close being sold off creates a “constant backlog of housing problems”, he says.

“We should never have sold off all the stock of council houses and we need to be building more council housing to drive rents down.”

North Yorkshire Council’s head of housing needs, Kim Robertshaw, said: “We are working with the families affected to provide alternative accommodation.

“We have already helped three of them and are working with a further three, providing temporary accommodation where needed.”

Discussing the wider issue, Simon Myers, the council's executive member for housing, said: “Historically, there are 8,500 people on housing waiting lists in North Yorkshire, so there’s a lot of demand.

“We are working with the new [regional] mayor to see how we can work at speed because the need is now.”

A spokesperson for Annington said: “From time to time we sell units from our private rental portfolio when it is appropriate to do so as part of our overall business strategy.”

Meanwhile for Kirsty and her family, their wait for a home goes on.

“I’ve got to the point where if I get my hopes up for something and it doesn’t happen, I’m just going to be at rock bottom,” she says.

“I can’t risk it because I need to keep going for the kids to keep going.”

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