Mrs McCabe is an 82 years old widow and looks after her 59-year-old disabled son, who is a schizophrenic and also suffers with emphysema. It is quite obvious when one meets Mrs McCabe that she is staying alive just to look after her son.

Mrs McCabe originally lived in a Riverside Housing property in Arnside Road, which is situated in the Smithdown area of Kensington. All the Housing Association (there are several different housing Associations) and council properties in this area have, and eventually will be, taken over by Riverside’s Community 7, who, although claiming to be a new social landlord, are really a subsidiary of Riverside, in effect they are Riverside masquerading as another housing association. This area has been designated as a £62 million New Deal for Communities (NDC) zone, which encompasses 4,000 houses, were 14,000 people live.

Some years ago Mrs McCabe was moved, by Riverside Housing, to a bungalow, which was situated in Millennium Road in the Granby Toxteth area of Liverpool 8. Mrs McCabe was moved to a bungalow because her husband had had a stroke and could not get up the stairs. Not long after the move Mrs McCabe’s husband died. After her husbands death Mrs McCabe had to have a major operation on her stomach, which has resulted in her having to wear a colostomy bag. Due to crime and the fear of crime in the Granby Toxteth area Mrs McCabe was becoming increasingly fearful for her safety and the safety of her disabled son. Mrs McCabe was finding it increasingly hard to go out shopping because of the poor shopping facilities in the area. Mrs McCabe eventually approached her housing officer at Riverside Housing’s large Office on Wavertree Road, and asked for a move, preferably back to the area from which she had originally moved. She wanted to move back to Arnside Road, or close to it, because her neighbours in Arnside Road had kept in constant contact with her, even when she had moved to Millennium Road.

From the onset her housing officer at Riverside Housing was unhelpful. As a direct result of Riverside’s refusal to re-house Mrs McCabe in suitable accommodation Mrs McCabe had a nervous breakdown and her health deteriorated even more. Mrs McCabe’s doctor eventually proscribed anti-depressants, which contained a sedative. It was only after many pleading phone calls to Riverside that Mrs McCabe was eventually offered a totally unsuitable, probably hard to let, small 2 bed-roomed flat in Salisbury Road Liverpool 15, which is still a considerable distance from her concerned previous neighbours in Arnside Road. Mrs McCabe visited the property in Salisbury Road and was shocked at the state of the interior of the flat. The previous tenants had left the flat in a dreadful state with dog excreteia spread right throughout the interior of the flat. Mrs McCabe refused the offer and was told by her housing officer that it could be some time before she was given another offer. Mrs McCabe made her way home with her disabled son with no hope for the future. Many more pleading phone calls were made to Riverside Housing until Mr McCabe, now in total despair, had to go to her friends at Arnside Road for help. Her former neighbours, by now very fearful that Mrs McCabe could die, decided to find a private landlord who could help Mrs McCabe out of her terrible predicament. Luckily a private landlord property in Arnside Road became available and Mrs McCabe was given first option. (Number of house is available). The private landlord told Mrs McCabe’s concerned former neighbours that a standard deposit of £300 was needed. Of course Mrs McCabe could not afford this sum of money so her former neighbours lent her the money. Mrs McCabe approached the social Security to see if they would loan her the money to move from the Riverside Housing Bungalow to the small house in Arnside Road. After a week or so the Department of social Security told Mrs McCabe that her request for a removal loan had been refused. Again, Mrs McCabes concerned former neighbours stepped in and lent her the £200 needed to move her furniture from Millennium Road to Arnside Road.

What is also rather interesting about the above case is the fact that a private landlord (Thomas Bevin) is the hero of the storey. I say this because the elected Lib Dem councillor for the Smithdown ward has, on a number of occasions, put out leaflets containing articles, which criticize private landlords in the Smithdown ward and the NDC area as a whole. It is also quite evident that RSL’s, such as Riverside, are constantly using their strength and power to influence central government to bring new draconian legislation into being to make it harder for private landlords to exist or set up in business.

What is described above is a classical example of the heartless officiousness of Riverside’s Housing officers and how these officers, who claim to work in partnership with their tenants, totally disregard the well being of a poor frail old woman and her frail disabled son. As far as can be ascertained there was absolutely no priority attached to this case. As far as Riverside’s housing officers were concerned Mrs McCabe was just another tenant who wanted to move because she was not happy were she lived.

Of course Riverside Housing officers, as they often do, have buried the extraordinary case of Mrs McCabe in an abyss of silence, and as such it is almost impossible to ascertain whether the above depiction is totally correct. It is so difficult trying to get in touch with individual housing officers through Riverside’s call centre that it is almost impossible to ascertain the real truth about this appalling case.