Islington Council says it has rehoused the terminally-ill resident after Kwajo Tweneboa called out the authority on social media
A North London accused of “turfing out” a man with incurable bone cancer and making him homeless against medical advice says it has now offered him new accommodation after outcry on social media.
On November 13 the housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa slammed Islington Council on social media for evicting a terminally-ill man in his 60s despite his doctors sharing several letters of medical support for him to be prioritised for housing support.
In a video post, Kwajo said the resident was “in absolute tears” over the phone to him after being ousted from his accommodation “with just the clothes on his back and his crutches”. Allegedly, bailiffs had arrived, locked his personal belongings inside the property and told him he would be able to collect them later, only to later dispose of them – including his cancer medication. The council disputes that any possessions were thrown out and said the eviction was the decision of a lettings agent and not the local authority.
“Everything he had was essentially thrown out by the council. He’s very unwell, and had been having to sleep on the 29 Night Bus and wash himself in the bathroom of a McDonald’s – all whilst receiving chemotherapy,” Kwajo said.
In one letter, his doctor told the council his damp and mouldy accommodation was already posing a “significant risk” to his health.
Islington Council responded to the X post thanking “everyone concerned about the resident” and assuring people it was acting quickly to support him.
The local authority has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) it did not have a statutory obligation to house this particular resident, but said it had gone beyond government guidance by housing him in temporary accommodation for nearly two years. In that time, the council had made six offers of private rented housing.
While the council disputes that any of his belongings were thrown away, it admits that agents may have lost some of his possessions.
In the video, Kwajo referred to four of the housing offers the man said he’d been given which were unsuitable, including properties with leaks, active building works, or shared accommodation – which he said “shouldn’t happen” for people undergoing chemotherapy.
Kwajo said the man had “trekked across London” to see the fourth property, the landlord was delayed by 90 minutes and in that time the resident, who also has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), had an asthma attack and passed out, at which point he was taken to hospital.
According to Cancer Research UK, it is possible for people undergoing chemotherapy patients to share bathrooms but they must take precautions due to the presence of anti-cancer drugs in bodily fluids, which can be harmful to others.
“He went to the council, tried to explain what happened. They had basically said to him, ‘you didn’t show up to the viewing – it’s your fault’,” the campaigner said, adding that the resident was told he was now ‘intentionally homeless’.
On Monday (November 17) Islington posted an update via X to say they had now moved into temporary housing for a few days and had accepted a new private accommodation offer. The post added that the resident told them only “a small number of items” had been lost.
But soon after, Kwajo replied by sharing a screenshot of an email sent by “[the council’s] senior manager” which stated that “significant amounts of property had not been returned” and that the rest of his belongings had been tampered with.
Speaking to the LDRS, Cllr John Woolf, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, said: “Like so many others across our borough, we were deeply concerned by the case that was raised by Kwajo on social media.
“As part of our continuing support for the resident, we have moved them into temporary accommodation until the end of next week. We are pleased that they have indicated they will accept our latest offer of private-rented accommodation.
“Over the past-year-and-a-half, we’ve worked with the resident to offer solutions to the issues that they have been facing, including by putting forward six offers of private-rented accommodation, and providing temporary accommodation.”
Cllr Woolf said the council would be speaking with the letting agency that handled the eviction to “clarify and to ensure that anything that was lost is safely returned”.
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