Two disabled women with extremely sensitive noses have been left homeless after turning down a council property near the Lush soap factory.
Cherie Hitchens, 58, and Joanna Morrison, 63, both have multiple disabilities including multiple chemical sensitivity, a syndrome that is triggered by exposure to any chemical-type smells.
Cherie says that such odours can make the pair sick, develop rashes, send their heart rates soaring and experience brain frog.
Both women were diagnosed with the condition by their GP, with Joanna requiring further treatment from a hospital specialist, Dorset Live reports.
The friends, who have been living in Dorset Council temporary accommodation for a year, had hopes of being moved into a permanent property.
However, when the local authority said the the only long-term accommodation was a bungalow in Upton, just one mile from the Lush soap factory, Cherie and Joanna were forced to reject the offer - leaving them homeless as a result.
Cherie said: "They evicted us because we said no to one permanent bungalow in Upton.
"We said no to that because it was right next to the carriageway, there were lots of Lush smells, lots of people working for Lush - we are allergic to scented products, they make us very ill.
"Also the problem with the bungalow was they said if we didn't stay there for five years, we would have to pay for all the disabled adaptions."
The pair had been living in Upton in 2020. They are part-time wheelchair users, with Joanna suffering from asthma and diabetes. Cherie also suffers from spinal stenosis, Graves Disease and has recently recovered from cancer.
That year, their council-funded home became unavailable and they were moved into a hotel. From there they were moved to a temporary house in Wareham for a year.
As their accommodation is temporary they needed to find somewhere new, and were offered a new bungalow in Upton. However, the two friends said it was unsuitable.
"We had to do an assessment, of their opinion and our opinion of why we couldn't take the bungalow in Upton. We did that. They [the council] said you should have taken it," said Cherie.
"We looked in Devon, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Cornwall, and Dorset obviously, to start off with. They're throwing us out of Dorset.
"We can't go to places that have a very well-known scented product shops and factories - we can't go near them, and they are all over the place.
"We did look at three properties out of a lot that I saw. Three of them we wanted, but one landlord said: 'no, housing benefit'.
"They believe what's on the TV - that we're all scum and we're just milking the system. We are not. It's not our fault we had these accidents - it's not our fault we have to rely on benefits. We're relying on credit cards now - I'm almost maxed out," she said.
Cherie says they went through the courts, but the council has now stopped all forms of help and evicted them from their temporary home on January 26.
The two friends are now staying in a hotel for as long as they can afford to, which they expect will be until tomorrow.
Cherie said: "They're expecting us to sofa-surf, they're expecting us to have friends and family. But they use scented products! We used to use scented products - we used to have lovely incense sticks, you know? We couldn't live there.
"[Joanna's] suffered enough. She's nearly 64 years old - she doesn't deserve this, we don't deserve this. No disabled person deserves this - the way we are being treated."
When asked what she felt needed to be done, Cherie said: "We've looked for a three bedroom, detached bungalow, with a wet room, with a garage, no wood burners, no VOC paint, not newly refurbished, no new carpets and not near carriageways, factories or industrial estates. That's what we want.
"It's not easy - of course, we're part time wheelchair users, and I'm going to be paralysed in a few years because of my narrowing of the spinal cord."
Cherie said: "Jo has to see the specialist, she's got another condition, and she has not been able to see them for six months. So we cannot move out of Dorset until she sees them. So we've got to stay here until February 1.
"There's other counties that offer three, four, five properties. We were only offered one. We didn't know that! They never said to us, if you don't accept it, then you are going to be on the streets."
She said that their situation had left her and Ms Morrison with mental health problems. "I have got depression, obviously. We do laugh...but mostly we're crying," she said.
A spokesman for Dorset Council said: “The council is unable to go into detail on individual cases.
“However, there is a very clear legal procedure the council has to follow in offering residents a suitable property.
“The consequences of refusing to accept a property, which is deemed suitable, are clearly communicated in writing and verbally.
“Decisions can also be reviewed and go through the court system.
“The council also has an obligation to use temporary accommodation in the best way possible for all residents.”
