I need a new home, but they've said it could take years

MUM SLEEPING IN LIVING ROOM AS SHE CAN NO LONGER GET UPSTAIRS

- JOSEPH TIMAN

ZOE Marlow is sleeping on a mattress in her living room.

The 40-year-old from Wythenshawe, who has a chronic pain condition, can't manage the stairs anymore. And her bed is broken.

She's been struggling to heat her three-bedroom house which is 'too big' now that she lives alone. She's desperate to downsize.

But after three years of trying, she is losing hope. Zoe is one of nearly 18,000 households on the social housing waiting list in the city.

She believes a family could 'thrive' in the home she's lived in for 18 years now that her two children have moved out.

However, every time a suitable two-bedroom property becomes available, hundreds of other households are competing with her for the same one.

"There's that many people bidding on the one property, you kind of feel hopeless," she says. "I just think I'm never going to leave.

"They've said it could be years. My story is just one in a million." Zoe was due in Parliament yesterday to talk about how she and thousands of other Mancunians are suffering because of a broken housing system.

She is one of the commissioners behind a new report which sets out the stark reality facing people in the city.

The Manchester Social Housing Commission, which brings together tenants, grassroots groups, campaigners, political leaders, council officials, academics and planning professionals, is making an 'urgent' call for change.