A dad says his family’s mental health is suffering due to them having to share a two-bedroom flat in Abergele. Jonathan Dobson, 38, says he shares the middle-floor flat at Llys Jenkin with daughters Autumn, 16, and Erin, 11, as well as Autumn’s one-year-old son Oliver.
But Jonathan, who works in a sunbed salon, says Erin, who has autism, is forced to sleep in the family’s open-plan living room/kitchen because they only have two bedrooms. To make matters worse, Jonathan claims the kitchen is too noisy for an autistic child to sleep.
Jonathan says the family have lived at the flat for over seven years but claims things have got worse since baby Oliver was born last year. Conwy is currently in the middle of a housing crisis.
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“I’ve begged and begged the Wales and West Housing Association to move us for the last four years, but they won’t,” he said. “The first three years were OK.
“I had my bedroom, and the girls shared a bedroom, but now they can’t share a bedroom because of Erin’s autism and now the baby is here. Erin’s bedroom is the living room, but it is a living room and kitchen as one.
“We’ve got rid of the couches as there is no point. With her autism, it is really bad for Erin because of the noise from the washing machine and tumble drier.
“She can’t settle at night and has nightmares being in there because it is an open room. She doesn’t have a private space.
“But the housing association aren’t interested to be honest. They’ve just said we’ve got nothing available. They are not very good at all.
“I’m very upset about it all. It is making me mentally ill for a couple of years at least, causing anxiety, and I’ve also got borderline personality disorder, which affects all my emotions.
“If something stresses someone out 10%, it will stress me out by 90%. We are literally at the end of our tether.
“The housing association don’t care. They just want to shut me up. I’ve asked them to move me anywhere. We are on Home Swapper and all the things on Facebook to try and move.
“The housing association are saying we have to have a four-bedroom property. But I’ve told them repeatedly over the last couple of years we don’t care if it’s a three-bedroom property because at least we will have a living room.
“We can’t sit and eat together. We can’t watch TV. We can’t function as a normal family.”
A spokesman for Wales and West Housing Association said: “Social housing in Conwy is allocated through one housing waiting list, managed by Conwy Housing Solutions. We are aware of Mr Dobson’s current housing situation, and our housing team has been providing advice and support to find a solution.”
A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council added: “In Conwy there is just one housing register, but six housing associations. The housing register is managed by the Homefinder Team (Cartrefi Conwy), on behalf of Conwy County Borough Council.”
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