http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/556012/Titina-Nzolameso-migrant-mum-court-fight-new-London-home? Homeless migrant mum-of-five refuses to live in council house OUTSIDE London A HOMELESS mother of five who refused a state-funded house outside London is taking her battle to the Supreme Court. The Congolese refugee snubbed the offer of a bigger, cheaper home, saying she wanted to stay near friends and not have her children move school. Westminster City Council washed their hands of her, saying she had made herself intentionally homeless. Nzolameso has spent the last three years taking her case, funded by legal aid, through the courts. Now she is to plead with the highest court to make Westminster find her a place to live in the capital, where hard-working families struggle with housing costs. Nzolameso came to Britain from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 and claimed asylum. She now has British citizenship. She and her children Tasnim, 14, Hussain, 13, twins Jamilah and Amirah, 10, and Daliya, 9, moved to Westminster in 2008. Her rent was covered by housing benefit but she fell into arrears after a £500-a-week cap came into force in early 2012. Westminster Council found her a place in Milton Keynes, Bucks, but she dismissed the offer. Her children were put in foster care and she has since been sleeping on friends’ sofas. If she loses, Nzolameso could take her case to the European Court of Human Rights, while a win could set alarm bells ringing in housing departments around the country. Nzolameso’s solicitor Jayesh Kunwardia of Hodge Jones & Allen said the council had failed to look for an alternative closer to Westminster. “Those on benefits should not be exempt from this reality.” Last night a Westminster Council spokesperson said: “This is an important issue with implications for all local authorities, particularly those within London. "We hope the Supreme Court will uphold the Court of Appeal’s ruling that our approach is reasonable given the pressures on local authority resources.” At the Court of Appeal ruling in October its head of housing said a win for Nzolameso would have imposed “an unreasonable burden”.
