Sally from Devon (not her real name) recently left her husband and moved with her three children into rented accommodation. Things rapidly went from bad to worse.

"I'd never been a tenant before and I didn't realise that what the landlady was doing was wrong. She was being very difficult, calling round all the time.

"I asked the council what to do and they said that I should write her a polite letter telling her she had to give me 24 hours notice if she wanted to come round. Well, she wrote back saying she was evicting me."

'Get a job'

Sally went back to the local authorities for help and was told there was nothing they could do for her as she had intentionally made herself homeless.

"No one would deliberately choose to be without a home, especially with two teenage children and a third at primary school.

"I didn't know there were things I should expect from the council. I just didn't have a clue. They told me I should go and get a job or go back to my husband. I felt like my life was being judged."

Sally also says that she was told her the only option was to move to bed and breakfast accommodation in another city.

"I was made to feel like I was nothing because I was on income support. I was treated with a lot of prejudice. I naively expected them to provide me with information. I didn't expect them to threaten to send me to another city."

She says she was worried that such a move would be especially hard on her two children studying for their GCSEs. "I was told that my children weren't relevant," she said.

Staff apologise

By this time Sally was very depressed. She says she could barely bring herself to leave the house and didn't know where to turn.

Her brother, who lives in Spain, recommended she speak to Shelter. He eventually phoned for her because Sally does not have an outgoing phone. Shelter immediately phoned Sally back.

They told her to go back to the local authorities and advised her of what she was entitled to request.

Several more long discussions with her local authority's housing office ensued. Sally said she made it clear she had been talking to Shelter and was pleased to receive a phone call from the housing manager apologising for the behaviour of his staff. One day later the council offered her a house.

"Before, they had told me there were absolutely none available."

'I was so vulnerable'

Sally is not out of the woods yet. She can move into her new house on the 14 December - but her eviction date was 2 December. It looks like the local authorities have persuaded her landlady to let her stay for two more weeks.

"If I am evicted, I've made up my mind that I will take my children to the housing offices and just stay there."

Sally says she never expected to be faced with homelessness and hopes never again to be in the same situation.

"Lot's of people get into trouble, you never know what is going to happen. No one has immunity. One may feel one does - but no one does."