A TEENAGE mother is facing the stark choice of remaining in an overcrowded family home or leaving Oxfordshire altogether.

India Walls, 19, lives in a two-bedroom house in Donnington with her mother, 25-year-old sister, and two sons, Harvey, aged three, and Zack, aged one.

The former Oxford Academy pupil applied for a council house back in 2012 and after two years of waiting was told her only option was a house in Brackley or Cheltenham.

Due to a long battle with depression and the desire to stay near her mother, Miss Walls refused, and was then re-assessed by officers as not in priority need.

She said: "My mum has given up her bedroom for me and the kids because there's not enough space for us all to be in the one room.

"In 2014 I was 18, with two young children. The council offered me Brackley and Cheltenham and because I said no to both, because of my age and the fact that I'm on medication for depression, they moved me from Band 3 to Band 5."

Under Oxford City Council's housing bands system, a person in Band 1 is assessed as being in exceptional housing need.

Those in Band 3 are seen as having a significant housing need, whereas those in Band 5 are considered adequately housed with low or no housing need.

Miss Walls, whose older son Harvey attends the nearby Lake Street Playgroup, said she could not countenance the idea of leaving but was faced no choice if she wanted her own home.

She appealed the decision but has been unsuccessful.

She said: "I have just been told they are not going to give me a house. I have lived in Oxford for 20 years and it's my right to live here. To be honest it's making me ill.

"Most of the girls I know that are my age and have children have got flats in Oxford. I don't know how that's possible because I've got nowhere."

Stephen Clarke, head of housing and property services, said: “A high number of households apply for housing in Oxford, but only a small number of properties become available each year. As a result many applicants will not receive an offer of housing. Although we successfully re-housed over 500 households into social housing in the city over the last year, there are still over 3,100 households on the Housing Register, including 1,500 that have been waiting for over four years.

The high cost of private rented sector accommodation in Oxford means that sometimes it is necessary to offer homeless households accommodation outside of the city.

"When Miss Wall approached the Council stating that she was homeless and needed to move, we found a suitable two bedroom property for her outside of Oxford. However, she refused this property and in line with our allocations policy, her application was re-assessed as not in priority need.

"She appealed against the offer of housing outside the city and also against the re-assessment, but was unsuccessful in both appeals.”