Homeless grandmother rejects caravan and is staying in taxpayer funded B&B Hannah Rose is urging the council to give her a permanent address The grandmother wants to claim housing benefit from an eco community The 71 year-old also wants a £100-a-week raise in her pension She says caravan was 'disgusting' and wasn't fit for a dog to live in Ms Rose has been in the £196-a-week B&B since November 15, 2013 By Jennifer Smith and Emma Thomas A homeless grandmother who demanded a mobile home so she could claim benefits has turned down a caravan - to stay in a B&B paid for by the taxpayer. Hannah Rose, 71, was sleeping rough in a trailer caravan attached to a car when she contacted Ashford Borough Council in Kent in a bid to secure a permanent address in the town. She is desperate for a postcode so she can claim housing benefit and get her pension topped up from £50 to £145 a week. Hannah Rose, 71, has asked the council to recognise her make-shift caravan as a mobile home and provide it with a permanent address so she can claim benefits 'Dirty': Ms Rose rejected the chance to live in the caravan at Blossoms in Charring Heath, Ashford Ms Rose refused the caravan and is staying in a B&B paid for by the taxpayer It led to her being moved into a £196-a-week B&B in the town so she wasn't homeless over the Christmas period. But now she has rejected a caravan at the Blossoms site in Charring Heath, Ashford, recommended by the council - because it was too dirty for her and her two pet cats. Ms Rose, who has lived all over the UK and abroad, most recently moving to Kent from Sussex in November, said: 'It was absolutely horrendous. The caravan was disgusting. The windows were not clean, the furnishings were nicotine-encrusted and the stench of cigarettes was overpowering. It was unacceptable. 'The friend who came with me said she wouldn't put a dog in there.' Ms Rose had originally been sleeping in her car when she arrived in Ashford, Kent, in November The inside of the carazan which grandmother Hannah Rose, 71, was offered as living accommodation The grandmother put the trailer together using donated wood and furnishings. She lives there with her two cats Ms Rose has been in the B&B since November 15 after she wanted the council to give her a postcode for her makeshift trailer so she could claim benefits. 'I may not have contributed much financially but the French club I ran made a big difference,' she said. The council says she has met with their housing team. A spokesman from Ashford Borough Council said they didn't have a duty to inspect the caravan as it wasn't an official offer of accommodation. He said: 'Ms Rose is still in temporary accommodation and investigations are continuing into her housing situation. When Ms Rose first approached Ashford Council she advised us that she would be happy to live in a caravan whilst she sought accommodation in an eco-friendly community. As part of our advice service we gave her the details of a caravan park as we were advised by them that they would accept occupiers on housing benefit. At no time was this an offer of accommodation through homelessness, therefore the accommodation did not require our inspection to confirm suitability. The mother-of-two, who is also a member of political campaign group Avaaz, feels she is entitled to receiving benefits as her own mother never received any and didn't even claim her pension Ms Rose emigrated from the UK in 1996 when she married German husband Heimrich Stolz . The couple traveled the world with his work and Ms Rose spent much of the time not working so she could bring up their two children. When the marriage broke down she returned to the UK with African husband Philip Hamrioui and the couple bought a house in Exeter, Devon. Ms Rose taught French classes for children but says she was on a low wage so paid minimal contributions. When her second marriage broke up she said her home was "lost to the bank." Ms Rose, who is part of campaign group Avaaz, has since lived in a number of places including a travellers site in Surrey where she claims she was terrorised by neighbours.