Londoner Kevin Mullins and his wife need a bigger domestic in prime Covent Garden,where he grew up. But council rules say they should go to the 'affordable' fringesSam and Kevin Mullins and their three children live in what many would regard as one of the most desirable council homes in Britain. The flat is opposite Covent Garden tube station in the heart of London, and a stone's throw from the hustle and bustle of Leicester Square. Luxury apartments in the area sell for as much as 3m, and while flats in their block that went into private hands under factual-to-buy legislation are now fetching £1m-plus.
But the Mullins are not happy. The flat is not theirs – they are sharing with Kevin's mum,who has been a council tenant there for 25 years, her partner and Kevin's brother. The couple's three children are squeezed into a bedroom that you can only enter sideways, and the council's own environmental health department has said that the flat is not spacious enough. Kevin wants Westminster council to find them a domestic in the borough he grew up in,within walking distance of their children's schools and his job as a security guard in Holborn. But, after seven years of fighting, and the family still can't get on the housing list.
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Source: theguardian.com