Disability: Paralysed woman from Newhaven criticises wait for housing

A disabled woman says she has spent almost a year away from her family while waiting for the local council to offer her suitable housing.

Louise Evans, 35, from Newhaven, was paralysed in a horse-riding accident in May 2021 and needs adapted housing.

She says she has been ready to be re-housed since January, but hasn't been offered anything suitable.

Lewes District Council says there are a lack of adapted properties available, but it has offered Louise options.

Following her accident, Ms Evans had two operations in Brighton before being transferred to the National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville, 104 miles from home.

She says despite making several bids on the council portal, she has not yet been offered a house that meets her needs.

"It's destroyed my family. I've had to watch my daughter grow up over a screen, and that hurts," she said.

Ms Evans told BBC South East she felt "discriminated against" by the lack of housing that is adapted or adaptable for her needs.

Paul Smith, the director of Foundations UK, a the national body that oversees home adaptions, said much of the housing in England is quite old "so was never built to adapted standards".

He added: "Government has changed planning policy to ensure that a higher proportion of new housing does meet adapted standards in future."

Lewes District Council said it had recently offered Louise an adapted two-bedroom property in Newhaven, which it hopes she will accept.

The local authority had previously offered Louise housing in nearby Seaford.

A spokesperson said the council had been "trying very hard to find a specially-adapted property that Louise is happy with for some time".

They added that trying to find suitable housing in Newhaven had been "particularly challenging because of the very limited availability of specially-adapted homes".

They said Louise was one of 130 people in high-priority banding in the district waiting for accessible housing.

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