Last summer Avril found herself without a kitchen and having to cook in her back garden. Her flat was being renovated after she took her social housing provider to court. A further dispute meant she had to use credit to buy a kitchen and wait for the money to be reimbursed. This was when she found herself using Muswell Hill Foodbank.
Avril has four children, two boys aged five and six and two teenage daughters, and has lived in Finsbury Park for more than 15 years.
She took her landlord to court as her ground floor and basement flat was not being maintained properly and needed major renovation.
“Older properties need tender loving care,” she says. “There’s no point patchworking. And I needed to ensure where my children are living is a good home.”
Since winning her case, Avril has been project managing the renovation, although this has sometimes been challenging.
“Me, as a woman, had to put my foot down with several men,” she explains. “And you’re looked down upon if you’re a tenant.”
Previously Avril has had a variety of jobs, working in housing, for magistrates courts, doing book keeping and accounting. She has a housing degree and during the pandemic has completed around 40 online Citizens Advice courses.
With the work on her flat now almost complete, Avril wants to move on with her life.
“I’ve been through a whirlwind,” she says. “But I just really want to move forward now.”
However, she is still living in a two bedroom flat with four children and has been on the housing waiting list for more than seven years.
“These kind of things can break anybody,” she says.
“It’s just unbelievable how difficult it is when you don’t own your own home.”