Doing something with depression, desire and fear

Papier Mache Towers,
19 October 2010

Dear [Minister for Housing],

When you have a moment, I would like to meet you. I received a letter from Downing Street in August, which I have enclosed with this letter, suggesting I contact you. You would, it said, be interested in what I have to say.

To be honest, it has taken me a while to write because my son and I are awaiting eviction from our temporary accommodation. Will your response come when we have moved? Will I ever receive it?

Soon, I do not know how soon, very soon, a bailiff’s order will fall through my letter box. The housing association has written to me instructing me it has made its application to the courts.

The local council will not make us homeless but where will it put us? I imagine the bailiff to be a man, strong with broad shoulders, who, should I resist what the council deems suitable for my child, will pick me up and eject me from our home, throwing out my son and our belongings behind us with ease.

I completed a Masters degree a few years ago and wrote my thesis on homeless families. Their stories fuel my fear.

I’d like to meet you however, not for you to help my child, but to understand the society I live in. Cutting housing benefits, abolishing secure tenancies, I fear the coalition is breaking our country at its very foundations.

I have campaigned on behalf of my child for more than 20 months. Allow me to share with you what I have learnt.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Sue de Nim

P.S. The above address is not fixed. You can contact me [by email or by mobile phone]. Wherever my son and I go, these will come with us.

Usually I wait to post my letters on blogspot but today, fuck it. Going out will do me some good, and for the purpose of a stamp, hopefully my small family, and perhaps yours, too.