A TEENAGER faces life on the streets because she can’t bear to leave her man.

Just 19, Elisha Ross spends at least five nights in seven sleeping in an Old Town car park with partner Thomas Fuller.

Having grown up in the care system, the woman has been offered accommodation by Swindon Borough Council and currently has a place in shelter Swindon Foyer, where she showers and cooks.

But she is desperate to find a home with 26-year-old “Tommy” – a man who has spent a decade on the streets and continues to battle a heroin addiction.

The pair are currently living under canvas in the Prospect Place short stay car park. After losing a prescription for methadone, Tommy has been forced back onto heroin

Elisha says that the council’s housing officers have so far refused to give the couple the one thing they desperately want: a home together.

She said that she knew others in her situation who had become pregnant in a bid to put a roof over their heads.

“If we had a baby we could easily get a place,” she said. “But I don’t want to have a baby just to do that. A lot of girls feel pushed into doing that.”

She asked: “Why not put two people in one place?”

She said that her partner was being judged for his actions when he was a teenager. She urged the various agencies dealing with housing to “let people grow and change.”

Elisha, who has also had problems with drugs and who has a dream of one day working as a tattoo artist, added: “I was really hurt when we went into the council because they kept bringing up the drugs thing. How are you meant to grow?”

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council, said: “We have worked tirelessly to find suitable accommodation for Miss Ross but, unfortunately, she has been evicted from two housing placements due to her behaviour.

"She currently has a place in the Swindon Foyer and is not at risk of losing this accommodation as she has been engaging well and adhering to the rules of not taking drugs on site.

“Mr Fuller has also received extensive help from the council over the years, but he has not approached us for help since March 2014. Until he does so, we are not in a position to assess if he is eligible for housing support.”

Elisha said that the couple had briefly lived with her grandparents while Tommy worked with a demolition firm. The elderly couple had previously taken in Elisha and her two siblings after their parents were unable to care for them.

“I feel like they’ve done so much for us,” Elisha said, when asked why they couldn’t continue to stay there.

Nearby, office workers said that the couple had been staying in the car park for around two months – and had left dirty drugs needles in an undercover area that a contractor had to clear up.

The pair have been banned from Old Town shops, including McColls on Victoria Road. Tommy has also received a council order banning him from the town centre.