Mother of 10 living in three-bed council home demands TWO houses next door to each other 'because we need more room'



A mother who lives in a three-bedroomed house with ten children and her partner has called for officials to give her two adjoining homes to accommodate her large family.



Donna Harrison said she has been asking social landlord Incommunities to allocate her family a bigger house for five years.



In response, the organisation has said it has a 'very limited' supply of homes with four bedrooms or more, several of which she has refused to move into.



Miss Harrison, from Bradford, moved into her home six years ago with five of the children and has since had another child.



She also cares for three other children, as well as her partner's daughter.



Tight fit: Fabian Bland and his partner Donna Harrison... and their ten children (back row) Daniel, 14, (with baby Fabian), Sarah, 14, Chloe, 13, Aaron, 12, Megan, 12, and (front row) Fabienne, four, Morgan, seven, Jack, nine, and Kieron, eight

The 34-year-old, who shares a bedroom with a son, daughter and partner, said: 'I can't cope, there's no room in the house for the kids.

'I have got four girls in one box room. I have had to put a partition up in one bedroom so we don't have boys and girls sharing together.



'They are always fighting over the bathroom.



'We have taken on three extra kids and no-one's given us any help. Nobody helps at all and I don't get anything for free, not even free school meals.



'I have put my name down for a few places. When people have got ten kids they should knock two houses through for them.'

Her partner Fabian Bland, 41, a delivery driver, said: 'When the children have their friends round it's like a kindergarten in here.'

'We have taken on three extra kids and no-one's given us any help. Nobody helps at all and I don't get anything for free, not even free school meals'



Miss Harrison was offered a choice of four four-bedroom Incommunities homes in 2008, all of which she turned down saying they were not big enough.



She was offered a large private sector property through Incommunities' guarantee scheme, which she refused.



An Incommunities spokesman said: 'Since the stock transfer of homes from Bradford Council in 2003, Incommunities has not carried out any conversions of two or more homes into one to accommodate the needs of a larger family with children.



'Such a scheme would be dependent on two large adjoining homes both being available at the same time and also funding considerations.



'We are actively working with the tenant and other agencies to help best meet the family's individual housing needs. Unfortunately, larger family-sized homes of four bed and more are very limited.



'We always advise people looking for rented family-sized accommodation to be flexible in terms of the location and also consider other housing providers.'

