Red tape sparks eviction threat

EVICTION threat . . . Gary Day at the Oswald Street property

Home of 38 years at risk
A SHAW man says he is facing eviction from his home of 38 years because the elderly parents he cared for have had to go into nursing homes.

Gary Day (50) wants to change the tenancy of the two-bed house in Oswald Street to his name to enable him to stay — but First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) say rules make this impossible.

Despite suffering three heart attacks and angina himself, Mr Day has cared for parents William (88) and Esther (83), who have both suffered strokes and dementia, for seven years.

But their health deteriorated so much he was forced to let them go into care homes and was shocked to find this means he can’t stay in the family home. He approached FCHO three years ago and had been assured he would be able to stay in such a situation.

Mr Day said: “If it had been a single tenancy there would not have been a problem, it’s because it’s a joint tenancy. The legal stand is that you can change the tenancy once in a lifetime but they say I don’t meet the criteria for living here on my own.

“It’s got to the stage where I will have to bring one of them home.

“I would willingly have my mum and dad home tomorrow, I have gone through hell for seven years and would go through it all again, but I have been told I can’t because of how bad they are.”

His dad, who has severe dementia, is at Total Care, Chadderton and his mum, who has suffered three strokes that have left her partially deaf and blind and struggling to walk or speak, is at Franklin House, Oldham.

Mr Day said: “Because they have been together for nearly 70 years I really did not want to split them up but the way it’s gone they have to be apart.

“This rent has never once been in arrears in 38 years. For the last seven years as a carer I did not ask for any help and suffered alone with two dementia patients who have had strokes. I have not had a penny, not even carer’s benefits.

“I have saved the council the cost of full-time care for the last seven years and the way they pay me is to kick me out of a house I have been in for 38 years. I think it absolutely stinks. I find it totally inhumane how they can treat someone like this.

“They are not interested in the fact that I have had three heart attacks. At the moment I’m extremely stressed.”

Council leader Howard Sykes has been fighting his case along with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

Mr Day says it’s unlikely to be the first time it’s happened, adding: “Other people need to be made aware if they are in this situation they need to get it sorted out as soon as they can.”

Steve Yorke, FCHO’s management and operations director, said as long as Mr Day’s parents are alive and the rent is paid then Mr Day can stay at the property.

But he conceded if it was deemed that the parents could not return then FCHO would have to work with Mr Day to find alternative accommodation.

He said succession laws and the council’s allocation policy mean the tenancy can only be assigned to either of the parents on the death of the other and not Mr Day.

These are designed to ensure that scarce housing stock is best utilised to go to the most in need — so, for example, a single man is not living in a three-bed house while a family is stuck on a waiting list.

He stressed Mr Day would not be thrown out on the street and would be rehoused. A local manager will visit him to find a solution.