A ONE-LEGGED homeless man faces a second Christmas on the street after being stuck in a situation that he says is worse than being a dog.
James McKay, 37, lost his home last year after he claimed a local housing association deemed he’d ‘abandoned’ the property.
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But McKay says he was battling sepsis and a flesh-eating bacteria in hospital, which eventually cost him his right leg.
While fighting for his life and in a Coma, McKay said he missed the letters his housing provider River Clyde Homes were sending him, for the Greenock, Inverclyde property.
In a 1 October 2022 article, a spokesperson for River Clyde Homes said they were not notified about his hospitalisation.
“Mr McKay had a history of not using the house as his principle home.
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“He was reminded many times in the past that he needed to notify River Clyde Homes if he was away from his home for more than four weeks.
“No one contacted us regarding his situation and after seven weeks of no correspondence and reminders being left, abandonment proceedings were instigated.”
Now, McKay has spent the last year sleeping on couches of family, which he described as a “never-ending nightmare”.
“I had a 20 per cent chance of living at the time I was ill, but I survived it.
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“But now I’ve just been left to bid on houses by myself and I’ve been staying between my mum’s and the mother of my children’s house,” he said.
Winter weather and sleeping on couches inflames McKay’s respiratory problems and made moving with a single leg difficult.
“At my mum’s I’ve got to walk up 24 stairs to get in, which is hard but I have to do it.
“It’s coming into winter now and if it’s going to be icy I’m not going to get out at all.”
McKay said he has been offered unsuitable houses from various housing providers which do not meet his needs and been unsuccessful in bidding for suitable homes.
“I need a house that suits my needs, with a shower and bathroom downstairs and I’d like a garden so I can get some fresh air, because it’s difficult otherwise.
“That’s over a year now that I’ve been on a couch.
“I wouldn’t even treat a dog like this,” he said.
Housing providers said McKay was getting support from them for finding a home.
A spokesperson for Inverclyde Council and its Health & Social Care Partnership said: “While it would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics of a case, staff from our housing options and homelessness advice service are doing all they can to support the service user to bid for registered social landlord properties in the area.
“This support will remain in place until the service user has been successful and received an offer of permanent housing.”
The Greenock Telegraph also contacted Oak Tree Housing and River Clyde Homes regarding Mr McKay’s case.
Oak Tree chief executive Nick Jardine said: “Mr McKay has a live application with Inverclyde Common Housing Register and I have been advised that he is bidding for high demand houses only.
“Houses in the main which are the subject of bids from numerous applicants.
“Unfortunately, this has resulted to date in the situation that the properties in question are let to applicants with a higher degree of need awarded to their applications than currently awarded to Mr McKay.”
A River Clyde Homes spokesperson said: “Mr McKay is not at present a River Clyde Homes tenant, but we recognise the difficult circumstances he is currently facing.
“He was placed in our highest priority needs group for suitable housing and was subsequently offered accommodation which met his needs, but he chose not to view.
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“He also identified other properties which were not River Clyde Homes stock. The area housing manager will continue to support Mr McKay and work with other agencies in the hope we can locate a suitable home as soon as possible.”
If you are the victim of an eviction, you can get help by contacting a housing shelter.
What are your rights for finding a new home
If you receive an eviction notice and you’re not able to find a new home there are a number of things you can do.
- You might be able to challenge the eviction. If your landlord hasn’t given you enough notice for example, or didn’t put your deposit in a protection scheme, the eviction notice could be invalid. Your landlord would need to issue a new one.
- If you’re not able to challenge the eviction, and you can’t afford or find a new home you should contact your local council who may be able to offer help with moving costs or temporary accommodation.
- If you think you will need help from the council, it’s important that you don’t move out of the property until you have to or you may be classed as “intentionally homeless” and it will be harder to get help.
In Scotland, there is an eviction ban in place until 31 March 2024 which applies for both private landlords and housing associations.
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