TWO women have become homeless after they turned down a council flat close to a soap factory because they have sensitive noses.

Cherie Hitchens, 58, and Joanna Morrison, 63, have been living in temporary accommodation in Dorset for the last year.

The pair both have multiple disabilities including multiple chemical sensitivity, making them extremely sensitive to any chemical-type smells.

So when Dorset Council offered them a bungalow a mile from the Lush soap factory they had no choice but to turn it down.

Cherie told Dorset Live: "They evicted us because we said no to one permanent bungalow in Upton.

"We said no to that because it was right next to the carriageway, there were lots of Lush smells, lots of people working for Lush – we are allergic to scented products, they make us very ill.

"Also the problem with the bungalow was they said if we didn't stay there for five years, we would have to pay for all the disabled adaptations."

Cherie and Joanna are both part-time wheelchair users.

Joanna also suffers from asthma and diabetes while Cherie also suffers from spinal stenosis, Graves Disease and has recently recovered from cancer.

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In 2020 they had been living together in Upton but they were moved to a hotel when the council-funded house became unavailable.

They were then moved to a temporary house for a year before being offered the new “unsuitable” bungalow.

Cherie said: "We had to do an assessment, of their opinion and our opinion of why we couldn't take the bungalow in Upton. We did that. They [the council] said you should have taken it.

"We looked in Devon, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Cornwall, and Dorset obviously, to start with. They're throwing us out of Dorset.

"We can't go to places that have very well-known scented product shops and factories – we can't go near them, and they are all over the place.

"We did look at three properties out of a lot that I saw. Three of them we wanted, but one landlord said: 'no, housing benefit’.

"They believe what's on the TV – that we're all scum and we're just milking the system.

“We are not. It's not our fault we had these accidents – it's not our fault we have to rely on benefits. We're relying on credit cards now – I'm almost maxed out."

Cherie claims that the pair were evicted from their temporary home on January 26 and they are now staying in a hotel out of their own pocket.

But once their money runs out both Cherie and Joanna will be homeless.

Cherie said: "They're expecting us to sofa-surf, they're expecting us to have friends and family. But they use scented products!

“We used to use scented products – we used to have lovely incense sticks, you know? We couldn't live there.

"[Joanna's] suffered enough. She's nearly 64 years old – she doesn't deserve this, we don't deserve this. No disabled person deserves this – the way we are being treated."

Cherie added: "We've looked for a three-bedroom, detached bungalow, with a wet room, with a garage, no wood burners, no VOC paint, not newly refurbished, no new carpets and not near carriageways, factories or industrial estates. That's what we want.

"It's not easy – of course, we're part-time wheelchair users, and I'm going to be paralysed in a few years because of my narrowing of the spinal cord."

A spokesman for Dorset Council said: “The council is unable to go into detail on individual cases.

“However, there is a very clear legal procedure the council has to follow in offering residents a suitable property.”

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