SINGLE mums helped an east London council tenant retake her home this weekend after Newham Council evicted her over arrears — even though she was ready to pay.

Jane Wood recieved unexpected help from housing campaign Focus E15 after government welfare cuts left her five months behind on her payments.

Together with her 14-year-old daughter, Ms Wood was kicked out of her home late last month despite an offer from family members to clear the £2,500 owed in rent and court costs.

On Saturday afternoon, Focus E15 Mums joined Ms Wood, her neighbours and local community members to occupy the Stratford flat which has been her home for over two decades.

Speaking to the Star Ms Wood said the support from the campaign had been “unbelievable.”

“I feel really, really positive — I felt really down before,” she added after spending her first night back in the flat.

Late last year Ms Wood found herself without her employment support allowance, which resulted in the Department for Work and Pensions cutting off her housing benefit too.

When Ms Woods’ family came to her aid and were ready to pay her arrears, the council said it was “too late.”

Ms Wood, who refers to her flat as “the property,” explained she “can’t say ‘mine’ because I get upset.”

Asked about the effect the campaign had her on her life, Ms Wood said that “without shadow of a doubt” they had turned her life around.

“If I didn’t know these people I would have just accepted what the council has done and that would have been it, you know?” she insisted as her voice cracked with emotion.

“But they have been fantastic, really really supportive, lovely people. “They put other people’s needs before their own and they proved that. They are just brilliant.”Ms Wood and her daughter are not alone in their struggles.

Over the last two years Labour-led Newham Council has seen a 42 per cent increase in homeless families. 

According to figures recently released by the Department for Communities and Local Government, around 5,000 of the borough’s children are currently living in temporary accommodation. 

Asked what she would do next, Ms Wood guaranteed: “I’m not giving up, I’m not giving up at all. “I’m going to stay here until they have to bulldoze me out.

“And they have to [give me a new home], even if it’s not this property, even if they don’t put me back in here, they are going to have to find me somewhere else.”

Outside Ms Wood’s window campaigners hung a banner reading “Jane Come Home” in a reference to film director Ken Loach’s seminal homelessness drama Cathy Come Home. 

In a statement, Focus E15 said they were only asking for “the council to accept Jane’s family’s offer to pay the rent, clear the debt and allow Jane and her daughter back into their home so that normal family life can resume.”

Contacted by the Star, a Newham Council spokeswoman refused to comment, but said: “We will be monitoring, we will be investigating.”