Anne, 66, was living with her daughter, helping take care of her grandchildren.

Sadly, Anne struggles with an addiction to alcohol and there was a catastrophic family breakdown. It became too much; Anne’s daughter told her she had to leave.

Anne contacted the council in the hope they would make sure she had a safe place to live as she had no options. Anne wasn’t classed as being priority need so initially wasn’t offered a place to stay.

The housing system, hard to navigate at the best of times, was defeating her and she faced living on the street, which is when she came to us.

We helped Anne talk to the council, proving they had a duty to give her a place to stay. She started to gather the documents required, but had a bad fall and went into hospital.

Because of her stay in hospital, she hadn’t been able to provide the paperwork the council needed to place her and she faced being street homeless when she was discharged.

So we paid for a safe place for Anne to stay, helped to her work out her options and collect together the paperwork she needed. We even bought her a mobile phone so she could keep in touch with us and then paid her deposit when she was offered a home.

Anne has planted flowers on her small patio, but remains frail. We are walking with her, and she is making progress.