Tracy’s long marriage broke down in 2016.  The situation was bad enough that she simply walked out with no belongings leaving four children (25, 21, 17 and 13) and moved in with first one person then another, then back with the first and so on. She had no access to any income as the husband controlled all the finances.  Three years later (August 2019) she was still not settled. She had contacted a DA service and spoke of the emotional and verbal abuse but was not deemed sufficiently traumatised for counselling despite by this point, she was in fact actually sleeping in a storeroom for several weeks. She then stayed with her son before moving in with a sympathetic member of the public.

At the start of 2020 she moved in with a new boyfriend but that didn’t last long. One day soon after Covid-19 had arrived, she threw herself on the mercy of a passing police car and that same day the County Rough Sleeper Team moved her into temporary accommodation in Wilton. She stayed there for 3 months before moving to temporary accommodation in Trowbridge in August 2020. She was there for 18 months.

During all this time Catherine and John, a couple of Opendoors volunteers, supported her in one way or another. They worked with the Council Housing Department and with solicitors. They also attended court hearings with her in order to establish her right to the value of half of the family home. The court ruled in her favour but then it was many months before her ex-husband was in a position to actually transfer the money to her account.

In December 2021 Tracey finally had money in the bank and could move into privately rented property in Devizes. Her health had not been good throughout the long period of waiting but now this began to improve and she was able to start looking for work. Opendoors helped with aspects of the application process and in March 2023 she started her new job as a child welfare assistant.