FOR eight months they were a family ripped apart.

Jenny and Simon Head may have been man and wife in name but since July they have been living like a courting couple.

While Jenny Head and the couple's two young children lived with her mum, doting dad Simon Head was two miles away with his parents.

They were denied a normal family life by a housing shortage that has left thousands of people queuing for a home.

But today the couple are celebrating the news that their nightmare is over.

Jenny, Simon, daughter Danielle, 2, and son Aiden, 1, will be under one roof again by the end of the week. They are to move into a two-bedroom home on a new housing development.

The Heads were among more than 4,000 families queuing on Eastleigh council's waiting list for social housing after having to move out of a two-bedroom maisonette in Elm Tree Gardens, Eastleigh, because it was due to be demolished.

There was nowhere else to go.

Rocketing house prices in the area and sky-high private rents had put those housing avenues out of reach for Jenny, 29, and Simon, 33, a glazier.

Jenny had taken her plea for a home into the council chamber when she urged the borough council to build more homes for those desperate to get a permanent roof over their heads.

Simon was living with his parents in Drake Road, Bishop-stoke, while Jenny and the

children stayed with her mum in Campbell Road, Eastleigh.

Every night, Simon dropped round after work and stayed until the children had gone to bed before returning to his parents.

Now with a key to the front door of their own rented housing association home on the town's former Pirelli factory site, they can start living like a proper family again.

Jenny said: "I was shaking when I took the call to say that there was a house for us.

"It is a beautiful house and absolutely perfect for us."

Simon added: "You do not think that you are ever going to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is a struggle.

"But my advice to anyone in this situation is not to give up."

An Eastleigh Council spokesman said: "We are always pleased when any family finds a permanent home. However there are still nearly 4,000 people on our housing register, all of whom are waiting for housing association accommodation."