A WOMAN with severe disabilities fears she and her husband will end up on the streets because of a lack of suitable housing.

Janice Fairbridge said she will have to leave her home because her medical condition is worsening and she needs to move into a bungalow.

She has agreed to sell the house, in Costa Street, South Bank, to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

She and her husband, Stuart, must move within weeks, but they said no bungalow suitable for a disabled person under the age of 50 was available.

The couple said they had no choice but to accept Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's offer of £15,500 for their home, which is more than they would receive if they were to sell their home privately.

Armed with notes about 45-year-old Mrs Fairbridge's terminal condition from her GP, occupational therapist and respiratory physiology specialists, they have contacted housing associations and councils across the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire to try to find a home.

Although adapted homes are available for elderly people, no homes for younger disabled people are on offer.

The couple, who are both on benefits, recently ended a national steroid awareness charity they ran from their front room.

Wheelchair-bound Mrs Fairbridge, who has a condition called Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disorder, osteoporosis and diabetes, and rarely leaves the house, said: "We are worried we are going to be left out on the street, and the stress is not doing my health much good.

"We have been told we must have somewhere to go by the end of January."

A spokesman for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said the authority was trying to help the Fairbridges, and said there were no demolition plans for the rundown area where they live.

He said the offer to buy their home would be available until the end of March.

A spokesman for Coast and Country Housing, which manages properties for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said the group was sympathetic to the Fairbridges.

She said rules that only people over the age of 50 could be given homes adapted for disabled people could be changed in certain circumstances.

A B&N Housing Association spokesman said the Fairbridges had applied for bungalows, but said that none were available for younger disabled people.