A mum-of-two whose son has a severe heart condition fears she could be made homeless after being given an eviction notice.
Leah MacDonald, 31, moved from Corby to Leicester in 2019 to be close to Glenfield Hospital, where her five-year-old son Patrick Gillespie needs care.
Initially, she rented a one-bedroom flat with her two children as she was not eligible for council housing.
However, she has now received an eviction notice and fears she will have "nowhere to go", Leicestershire Live reports.
Leah is now eligible for council housing, but is worried she will face homelessness due to a lack of properties available.
The woman became a single parent in 2019 following a breakdown in her relationship with Patrick's father.
Because of her son's condition, doctors said they needed to be close to the hospital, so Leah sought support from Leicester City Council.
However, she was not eligible for council housing as she had not lived in the city for a minimum of two years.
With the help of a charity, she was able to settle in a private one-bedroom flat with Patrick and her now 16-month-old son, Damien.
Leah's landlord, however, has issued her with an eviction notice as he wants to sell the property.
Even though she is now eligible for council housing, the woman fears her family will be made homeless if a council property is not found soon.
As a single parent claiming Universal Credit, the woman said she is struggling to afford somewhere new to live.
The city council said she is on the high-priority list for a two-bed property.
Leah said: “I’ve been homeless before and can’t be facing it again.
“I’ve got nowhere to go with my children and I don’t know what I can do."
She said she has been advised to ask her landlord to provide a court order.
The mum is also worried about the risk of "uprooting" Patrick's life, as doctors said he might only live until the age of 13 and she wants him to have the "best life possible".
“He’s happy in the school he’s in, he’s got friends here - it’s not easy for him,” she said.
Having faced family difficulties, including the loss of her mum and sister in recent years, Leah said she is trying her best to stay positive for her children.
“There’s nothing I can do but I just need to be happy for my babies,” she said.
Despite her circumstances, Leah said she is still being urged to leave her rented property and is trying to "keep [her] head above water".
A city council spokesperson said: "We sympathise very much with Ms MacDonald’s situation, and are working with her to ensure she can get suitable accommodation.
"She has been in band 1 – the highest priority – for a two-bed property, since May 2021. However, the average waiting time for a two-bed property is nine months, so we are making sure she is aware of all the options for finding suitable accommodation, including help we can offer to secure a private rented property.
"Our homelessness prevention officer has been in contact with her regarding the notice her landlord has given her to move out of her current home.
"If the landlord took possession of the current house before she was allocated somewhere new to live, we would arrange temporary accommodation for her to ensure she didn’t become homeless.
"She originally applied to our housing register in September 2020, but had not been living in the city long enough at that point to qualify – this is set at two years, so ensure people with strong links to Leicester are given priority for much-needed council housing.
"A long-term programme of building new council homes is underway, with the first phase already completed and hundreds more planned in the next stages.
"The impact of the Government’s Right to Buy scheme means the city now has 10,000 fewer council homes than it did 30 years ago, and continues to lose around 400 council properties every year under that scheme, making it more difficult each year to meet the city’s housing need."
