A NEW mum said she feels isolated after being housed miles away from her family and friends.

Kiri Smith, 24, gave birth to Cody in April and her 25-year-old brother Kurt tragically died the following month. She has since struggled with postnatal depression and has tried to take her own life.

Kiri has asked Home Point Herefordshire, a choice-based lettings agency, to move her from her one-bedroom flat in Bromyard to Hereford.

There she would be closer to her mum in Kingstone and near to family and friends in Hereford.

Kiri’s mum, Trena Blake, said: “She feels isolated where she is. She doesn’t know anyone there. Public transport is an absolute nightmare.”

Home Point housed Kiri in the first-floor flat in January, when she was pregnant. Kiri, who is a single mum, had previously been privately renting in Hereford but was given notice to leave when she told her landlord she was pregnant.

Trena added: “She is at her wits’ end. It is not as if she is asking for anything she is not entitled to. She needs the support of her family.

“Postnatal depression was brought on by losing her brother. Her baby was only a week old when her brother died.”

Trena said she believes Kiri should be a higher priority and her daughter would happily take a one-bedroom home in Hereford.

A Herefordshire Council spokesman said: “Home Point is a choice-based lettings scheme which allows eligible registered applicants to apply for social housing across Herefordshire with any of the county’s housing associations.

“It is the applicant’s choice as to where they apply for housing and some areas, such as Hereford, have higher demand than others and therefore potentially longer waiting times.

“The relevant housing association’s shortlisted applications are based on a traffic light banding system, of which green is the highest banding, and how long an applicant has been registered within that band determines their position. The housing association will then make an offer for housing and the applicant can choose to accept or reject the offer based on the suitability of the offer.

“Herefordshire Council and Home Point are unable to directly offer social housing, as the council’s housing stock was transferred to a housing association in 2003.”