Woman heaps praise on housing trust for ‘saving her life’

A Derby woman has praised Derventio Housing Trust for saving her after going from a £250,000 salary to sleeping on the streets

Amber Low, 45, has said she is living proof that no-one is immune from losing everything after going from having everything money could buy to being forced to sleep rough in Derby city centre.

Amber said she could not praise Derventio Housing Trust enough after housing and support officer Carla Parkin came and found her sleeping rough and provided accommodation in Derby in which Amber is now safely installed.

She said: “Carla came and saved my life. She literally picked me up and brought me here. I think the world of that lady.”

Born in York to a forces family and educated at boarding school in the south of England, Amber spent most of her career abroad in Abu Dhabi, where she worked for an oil and gas company as an analyst.

She recalled: “On a £250,000 salary it meant I could afford to go to concerts; I could fly back to the UK. I had my own boat  – the good life for me was being able to afford that.”

Amber was also looking after family back home using her earnings: paying her dad’s bills after he suffered a heart attack and helping out friends who were struggling through the economic downturn.

But then she was made redundant through a company merger, her Visa expired, and she came back home.

She ended up living in temporary accommodation in the UK for seven months, thinking she would be able to find a job, but the money finally ran out and she ended up on the streets of Derby, surrounded by suitcases and unsure of what to do next.

After being provided with accommodation by Derventio Housing Trust, Amber has now gone on to securing a new job as manager of Derby Women Centre.

She said: “I think finding Derventio Housing Trust is the best thing that’s ever happened to me since I have come back to the UK.

“I love going down to their Growing Lives project in Ilkeston. I’ve made some nice friends there.

“When I came back to the UK, it was like being a stranger in my own country.

“There wasn’t a guide for me as to how to live here. I was focused on the wrong things. But living in Derby now is like heaven.

“It just shows that this can happen to anybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re a cleaner or if you’re a managing director. If you’re so used to the big pay club, you’ve got the big house, the big gas guzzling machine – you pay for the lifestyle.

“I’d like to thank Carla from Derventio for everything – she saved me. Derventio Housing Trust believes in people. It’s absolutely fantastic.”