A SINGLE mother in Hounslow is being forced to live in ridiculously cramped conditions due to the Council and Thames Valley Housing's (TVH) inability to find a suitable home for her and her four children.

Tracey Mayer, 33, has a two bedroomed house in Drayton Close but with four children, the property simply isn't big enough. She has ended up having to sleep on the floor with her youngest son, Rico, who is eight months old.

Her other children share the bedrooms, but the eldest, 12 year old Daniel, keeps being woken by the other children and Tracey fears his school work will suffer.

But her troubles do not end there. Tracy suffered a nervous breakdown before Christmas, and is currently suffering from post natal depression, which she claims is being made worse by her intolerable living conditions.

To help her with the depression, she is on a multitude of different drugs, including sleeping pills, which is adding to her anguish. She needs the pills to sleep, but fears that while she is asleep, she could crush her son or, if he wakes in the middle of the night, he could seriously hurt himself whilst she remained fast asleep and completely oblivious.

Tracey has contacted everyone she can think of to ask for help. She says: Please, I am desperate, I need to get out of here. I feel depressed and really down, as we can't have a normal home because the kids can't play properly or sleep properly - it's disgusting.''

Many people are sympathetic to Tracey's plight, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Letters have been written by Tracey's MP, Health Officer, Psychiatrist, and School Representative to the Council and TVH asking for her case to be dealt with more urgently, but both organisations claim they are powerless to do anything further.

A Thames Valley Housing spokeswoman said: We're very aware of, and sympathetic to, Miss Mayger's situation, and her case is being treated as a high priority, but we simply have a shortage of larger properties in the area and nothing has become available for a transfer.

She continued, Thames Valley Housing is taking action to increase the number of properties available we have an incentive scheme to encourage tenants living in larger homes to move to smaller accommodation, which we have been promoting through our residents newsletter but we cannot force people to move from larger homes unless they choose to.''

A spokesperson for Hounslow Council refuted claims that Tracey's case needed to be looked into again. They said, The Council recognises Ms Mayger's housing needs, she is in band C on our list. Ms Mayger is living in a two bedroom with Thames Valley Housing which is suitable for her needs. However, a number of residents in band A&B, with greater level of need, are more likely to have bid success than someone who is in band C.

They continue:, Quite simply, there are not enough properties available to meet the high level of housing needed in the Borough - a problem that is common across London. The Council has clear criteria for housing and rehousing people and Ms Mayger is being treated fairly within that criteria.''

Alan Keen, MP said Obviously I wouldn't talk about individual cases, but there is basically a huge shortage of housing in the borough. The council do try their best for everyone, but it is just a really difficult situation.''