Two siblings have criticised Croydon Council for the ‘appalling’ way it has handled their dad’s needs during the process of rehousing him, their mum and their brother.

They called the council’s housing staff ‘evasive’ and spoke of how they claim they lost their dad’s medical documentation 26 times.

The two daughters, who have asked not to be named, said they were ‘shocked and appalled’ by the way the council continued to offer their disabled dad accommodation with stairs, despite providing medical evidence showing he could not climb stairs.

They said the process of getting their dad housed had caused him so much stress he ended up having a heart attack during a housing meeting at the council offices last month.

Their engagement with the council began 11 months ago when their 69-year-old dad, their mum and brother were looking for a new property within the borough that would meet his complex needs.

The dad, who has asked not want to be named, is diabetic, partially sighted and is being tested for Parkinson’s.

He also has severe depression and anxiety disorder owing to a complex history of political torture.

These issues have meant his mobility has become restricted and he had several bad falls in his privately rented property in Purley.

After a particularly serious fall from the paved steps at his former accommodation, his daughters claim the council encouraged him to start an eviction process so he could be housed by them.

The idea was that the council could provide their dad, mum and brother, who lives with them as a primary carer, with ground floor accommodation that would be disability adapted.

However, according to one of his daughters, the exact opposite happened. This daughter, who we have called Ms S, spoke up about her experiences with Croydon ’s ‘incompetent’ housing and homelessness departments.

She said: “They sent my dad on a run-around trying to find a property, it was already a very stressful situation. They kept telling him to come back again and again but were always offering him the same first-floor property again and again.

“The whole reason you told the man to start the eviction process was because he can’t climb stairs, and you put him onto a first-floor flat. It doesn’t make sense.”

The accommodation offered to her dad was on the first floor and accessed by 13 steps.

It also had two rooms and the family claim was subject to frequent rat infestations and mould.

These features meant it was wholly unsuitable for him, due to the risk that more falls on stairs would pose to him.

In the evidence he provided to the council, he also specified that he and his wife sleep in separate beds due to medical reasons so a two-bedroom flat would not work.

However, Ms S claims the council ‘coerced’ her dad into signing the papers for this property without him having sight of it first.

She also alleged he was also encouraged by the council to sign the papers or ‘risk becoming homeless’.

This all came despite the family sending doctors and GP’s letters confirming their dad’s medical details. During the process, the family had become used to sending and resending their dad’s details to Croydon’s Homeless Emergency Accommodation Team (HEAT).

This practice, they said, became ‘infuriating’ and what they claim was a sign of deep incompetence from staff members who allegedly kept misplacing or losing important documentation.

While making a medical assessment of the property, the family claim one HEAT staff member admitted to them that he had not seen or received the medical information they had sent.

They alleged that staff member then told the family, to ‘help me out and send it again’. According to Ms D, the other sister, the council misplaced or lost their dad’s information 26 times throughout this 11-month process.

The family said how they felt a culture of ‘evasiveness’ existed within the HEAT team, which put parents like theirs in danger. They cited incidents where members of staff would take a long time to respond to urgent questions from the family, or simply fail to respond at all.

A particular issue the family say they had with staff centred around incidents where staff responsible for their dad’s case would ‘disappear’ on annual leave without prior warning or a contingency plan for someone else to take over.

They told of an instance where a member of staff said: “I promise, I promise, I promise, I will resolve this for you, and can only speak for myself. I know you have been let down by my colleagues, but give me a chance to call you tomorrow by 1PM.”

However, when the family reached out to that member of staff the next day they found out they were about to go on annual leave and had not taken action.

Ms S added: “The team is entirely devoid of honesty and integrity. These are actions that indicate that such individuals should not preside in positions of responsibility or have a direct effect on people’s lives

“These actions have had severe and potentially life-threatening consequences. They do not deal with people like they are human, when you work with them you forget you’re living in a first-world country.”

These incidents culminated with the dad suffering a sudden heart attack during a housing meeting at Croydon Council’s offices last month.

The incident was so severe that he had to be evacuated from the premises.

While it is unclear whether this meeting with the council caused the heart attack and he has since left the hospital, his family still insist that the trauma caused by this housing issue has taken a significant toll on his mental and physical well-being.

Ms D, who has been leading the email correspondence with the council, said how her exposure to Croydon’s social housing system has left her with a number of concerns. She said: “As an outsider, and someone who hasn’t previously dealt with social housing, I just think it’s appalling.

“I’ve witnessed members of staff that have made assurances and promises, and then when I try to contact them the next day I found out they are on annual leave and they never even told me.”

Her sister, Ms S, shared this sentiment: “The sheer rudeness and lack of confidence from the staff was shocking.

"The frustration is beyond me. It seems like there’s something going on in that building because they’re just not treating people the way they should be.”

Their dad, mum and brother have since been housed in a property in Forest Hill.

According to the sisters, the one-bed property on the ground floor is still unsuitable for the three of them and their dad’s condition has since worsened to the point where he is almost entirely bed-bound.

A spokesperson for Croydon Council said: “We are sorry to learn about his health challenges and wish him a full recovery. We have worked with him to address the concerns he has raised about the suitability of the accommodation we have offered to him, and we will continue to work with him as appropriate.

“The council takes its data management responsibilities and customer experience very seriously. We investigated our resident’s concerns about documentation and can confirm all documentation has been securely processed and stored.”