A bad case of red tape

Published: 22 October, 2010

• AS chairman of Redbrick Tenant Management Organisation in Old Street, I must highlight a housing case that screams out for natural justice. 

Last January, Bernadette Bazzoni, the wife of a neighbour, suffered a terrible fall in her home, which left her severely brain damaged and briefly in a coma. 

This family’s love and devotion for this warm, generous lady should be an inspiration to us all. It demonstrates that no matter how desperate a situation one finds oneself in, there is always hope. 

Happily, Bernie is now stable enough to return home, although she is unable to talk or communicate. Her family are keen to care for her, but the hospital will not discharge her unless she can return to ground-floor accommodation with wheelchair access – and therein lies the problem.

In an extremely bad case of council red tape, the family’s application to move from their three-bed, first-floor flat to an empty, smaller, three-bed flat on the ground floor in the same block has been rejected by Homes for Islington. 

It says that since the couple’s children no longer live at home, they “do not qualify” for a three-bed flat, and also that, because bedrooms are on an upper level, the flat is not suitable. 

Doctors confirm that familiar surroundings, faces and noises can only assist in the recovery process. But should we bend the rules and make an exception to housing allocations policy on this occasion? 

Of course, we should – and at a meeting in the community hall on our estate on Tuesday evening I was amazed at how many of Bernie’s friends, neighbours and well-wishers were there to agree with me and support her.

On behalf of Bernie, her family, friends and neighbours, I demand that Islington Council intervenes for the sake of common sense and decency and overturns this ridiculous decision. 

To sign our petition to the council, call at the Redbrick TMO office at  Vibast Community Centre, 163 Old Street.

PETE MUSWELL
Chair, Redbrick Tenant Management Organisation EC1