Of course you could also hope that Mental Health get their finger out and give the poor woman the conselling she obviously needs.

Hmmm, which will break first? Council illogicality or Mental Health's response times?

or her leg?

Just the kind of story the Daily Mail would be interested in... That ought to get them rehoused, that and a threatening letter from a lawyer.

Defacing the building. With that sort of attitude she would jump and the council would accuse her of defacing the pavement. Probably send her a bill for repairs.

Rehouse her in an even higher flat? Don't be silly.

The council have those reserved for tennants with mobility problems, don't they?

too damn right.

I developed severe mobility problems when I became disabled - severe enough for me to be given the "high rate mobility" part of Disability Living Allowance (once my forms had been lost a couple of times, naturally).

I'm on the council list for a ground floor flat, but as I'm not homeless - I live in the first floor flat I started privately renting when I was fit, well and working - I'm nowhere near a rehousing priority. And even if I was, I wouldn't be priority for ground-floor - that goes to teenage mums who get their parents to sign a bit of paper saying they're being kicked out, because apparently you can't manage with a baby and stairs.

I also can't get the mobility scooter or powered wheelchair I'm entitled to, that would make my life infinitely easier and more independent, because where I am living at the moment there is nowhere to store it...

But the truly shocking part of the news story was the husband installing the grille and trying to protect his mentally ill wife. A Useful Man. Good thing I was sitting down. Obviously, this occurred on a different continent than the one I live on and one a different planet than the one where my not-soon-enough-to-be-ex-husband dwells.

Yeah, we're all useful here, like the bloke what writes these articles.

don't be a sexist idiot, please.

Men can be lovely and helpful, and women can be horrible and obstructive, and vice versa. People are people and some, like apparently your ex, are jerks, and I'm sorry for that, but you can't judge everyone by that.

women can be horrible and obstructive

As she demonstrates so ably herself...

Why don't the council go all the way and send her a leaflet describing the best way to jump for maximum effect. In said leaflet they could tell her to aim for the pavement as it costs less than repairing the road.

Yeah, sounds absurd.
But what the hell does it matter where someone lives?
I mean, if you wanna jump/kill yourself you can go to any building, take a bus to the Tower Bridge, whatever..
And if you actually wanna die you will make sure it's high enough and not the first floor kitchen window
That's ridiculous!!
The best thing: Calling 999 "Oh hi I'm just standing next to my bedroom window I might wanna kill myself (I'm not quite sure yet) so can you come and help me, please"

They should provide her a proper therapy and not a new flat!!

Often when people do things like that they're in kind of a dream-like state or even a bit catatonic.

It's one thing to wander from your front room to your balcony with no one noticing and swing your legs over the rail, in a moment of losing control or utter despair... it's quite another to put your shoes on, get your coat and purse, leave the house, wait for a bus, get on the bus, go to the multi-storey car park, climb to the top level, clamber out past the bars/mesh/whatever that does tend to be in place there, all while maintaining that utter despair.

Housing is by no means a solution but it can be a way of minimising a risk. Leaving her where she was would have been one thing, but moving her to a higher flat with a balcony? And then not allowing her husband to install safety measures? That reads like increasing the risk, to me.

Chances are, this woman is under mental health services. Therapy doesn't cure suicidality over night, and even if you are cured, if the triggers are strong enough, chances are that you will resort to your favourite methods of coping. For many, that is suicide attempts.
Though, I do suspect that this woman knows that two floors won't kill her, and its more of an "advanced" form of self harm..
Also, when you're in the mental health system of this country, you quickly come to realise that the best way to get treatment when you're desperate for it is to "scream loudly" - ie, do something dramatic.

There are a couple of very good crisis houses in your area btw, which I wish the NHS would make more use of..

Just in case you had any doubts... the bureaucracy is as crazy here in the US as it apparently is there... You could have substituted any US city for yours in this story.....