Daisy Simpson, who has been confined to her small flat in Railway Square since 2021, says the council has not listened to her concerns about her health needs and her requirement of moving into a property able to fit a plethora of bulky equipment critical to keeping her alive.
The 36-year-old says a new alternative home offered to her in Rowan Green East is just as unsuitable as her current one and is challenging the council to find her somewhere else to live.
Daisy has several health conditions, including moyamoya disease, a rare disorder which causes blood vessels in her brain to fuse together, which has caused her to suffer multiple strokes.
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The council has acknowledged that her home in Railway Square is unsuitable and that she should live in Rowan Green East, which has recently been renovated. Daisy says Rowan Green East is also unsuitable.
The row has since been heard in the High Court, where Daisy applied for a judicial review of the council’s decision to offer a home in Rowan Green East.
She said: “I want to be housed safely somewhere that meets my needs. I am a dying woman, and this is overshadowing my last years of life. It’s causing significant stress and anxiety.
“At the same time, I cannot move into a property where care will still remain unsafe, and I will continue to be placed at risk. ”
Being dependent on two full-time carers is a long way from Daisy’s childhood dream of becoming an actress.
She was first diagnosed with the rare condition of moyamoya – said to affect one in a million people – in June 2021.
This was following a stroke and a brain bleed in January of that year, with visits to six hospitals and multiple neurologists before getting her diagnosis.
She also has reduced vision, uncontrolled body movements, memory issues and difficulties walking.
Daisy’s condition has deteriorated rapidly, and she is now completely reliant on carers to live. Her only option for preventing the disease from taking her life is surgery on her brain – even though this wouldn’t be a guaranteed fix.
Brentwood Council accepts Daisy is severely disabled and that her condition is degenerative. Daisy was found to need alternative housing in August 2021 – the same year in which she suffered her first stroke.
The council initially identified Fairfield Road as a suitable property but then withdrew the offer, arguing that it was not suitable for Daisy’s needs.
In 2023, the council offered an alternative property in Rowan Green East as permanent accommodation with a secure tenancy.
The council invited Daisy to view the property in October 2023, but she stated that she would only do so if no one from the council were present.
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But Daisy’s health further deteriorated. In January 2024, the council made another offer of Rowan Green East as suitable temporary accommodation. The council contends that this offer was made to meet its duties.
The offer of January 4, 2024, is the decision Daisy sought to challenge in judicial review. This failed in a judgement handed down by Mr Justice MacDonald.
However, the council has now given her a homelessness decision, which she says means there is a statutory regime for her to challenge regarding its suitability.
She said: “I’m at risk of sudden death. My carers have been distraught. The council has been playing games with my life.
“The property they’re trying to force me to move to, it’s not that I’m not grateful, it’s not suitable for my needs.
“They should be working for me to try and find a solution.
“They are dragging me through a legal process that could stop tomorrow if they just started looking for a different property.
“My prognosis without surgery is five years, and now we’re entering four. they don’t know if I will survive surgery. The surgery, in my case, is high risk.
“I am dying. This is going to be a home that I’m going to die in. All I really want from the council is somewhere safe that isn’t going to make my conditions worse, and I really don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
Among the grounds for refusing judicial review, the judge said Daisy’s claim has been superseded by the defendant’s decision made on January 28 2025 “and is now academic”.
Daisy added: “The crux of it is the property is unsuitable and the occupational therapy has said it’s unsuitable. We have demonstrated my clinical items cannot fit in that bedroom.
“This is all on them and their decisions, but they’re putting me through hell in the process.
“This has made me quite unwell; this is maybe getting to the point where I actually believe I’m going to die in Railway Square.”
A Brentwood Council spokesperson said: “The council accepts that Ms Simpson’s current accommodation is not suitable for her needs and has extensively adapted a property within the borough to meet her needs.
“The property was adapted in accordance with her occupational therapy assessment.
“We recognised that the extent in which her current accommodation is not suitable was such that she meets the threshold under the Homeless Reduction Act to be considered as homeless.
Ms Simpson’s legal team and the judge were presented with the full facts of the case, including all the information about the specially adapted property which Ms Simpson has been offered.
The judge did not dismiss the case because the council considered Ms Simpson as homeless.
“The Judge listed the different reasons in the judgement why the claim did not meet the threshold for a judicial review and that the case was totally without merit.
“The adapted property remains available for Ms Simpson to move into.”
