A YOUNG mum who fled the squalor - and terror - of life on a Leeds council estate is now facing the threat of becoming homeless in her home town.

Born and brought up in Christchurch where her family still lives, Tracey Pristo, 28, left to find work with her boyfriend in Leeds four years ago.

But she found it grim up north living in the rundown Holbeck area of Leeds surrounded by prostitutes and drug addicts, drunks, violence, crime and vandalism.

"There were condoms and needles everywhere.

"It was a nightmare, like living in Beirut," she said.

After her partner left, the final straw for Tracey came in the summer when it was revealed one of the London underground suicide bombers had lived in the next street.

Tracey and her seven-year-old daughter Charmaine headed back home to Christchurch and after applying to the council were placed in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation.

But the council housing department ruled that because she voluntarily gave up her tenancy in Leeds Tracey was not eligible to be housed under the homeless persons provisions.

Tracey is still awaiting a decision on her appeal against the town hall ruling, but instead of finding her a permanent home housing officers this week turned her out of the Stour Road guest house where she had been staying.

Tracey, back lodging with her mother in Burton where Charmaine is enrolled at the village primary school, is now desperately seeking private rented accommodation in the area.

But the rocketing rent levels demanded by private landlords and letting agents in Christchurch outstrip the threshold for assistance, leaving Tracey unable to meet the monthly charge from her part-time job and benefits.

She said: "The council has offered help with a deposit but a lot of private landlords will not rent to people with children or on benefits and I am not sure I could afford the rent if I found a place."

First published: October 28