Everyone seems to be complaining of a housing shortage (Council cash for rooms plan sparks fury from residents, Croydon Guardian, November 22) and asking why nothing is being done about it.

I too have applied to the council for help as I am a housing association tenant. They say they cannot rehouse me unless I move to London and opt for a flat.

I live in a two bedroom house with five children and my partner. We have been told that we cannot be moved for five years.

We have no room for a cot for our nine-month-old daughter and are crammed in like sardines. The council has a fresh-start scheme but this is no help either. They might be able to move us up north or to Scotland but we want to move to Devon.

My partner lost his job after 24 years of working for the same company and all we want to do now is move but we've been told we can't go there, or anywhere else like that such as Surrey, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire or the West Country.

All I want to know is, what do I do now? Why aren't we getting help and why is the council not helping people?

I have two friends who got re-housed recently. One of them has three children and was living in a two-bedroom place but the council has just given her a brand new four-bedroom house. Another friend got moved from Croydon to Shirley.

Why am I having to live in such cramped conditions with seven people in a two bedroom place?

The council told me we do not have special circumstances, but what is? We can't go on this way, it's not right and it's not fair.

J BERGLUND Denmead Road West Croydon