A single mum forced to live in four different temporary homes in the last 18 months with her young family says her experience has been like a “horror movie”.
Michelle Kerr has dealt with cat excrement, dead rats and damp in the accommodation she and her daughters have stayed in, while they wait on a new home. The former NHS worker was made homeless when her private let was repossessed by a mortgage lender from her landlord.
Since then she has been on a merry go round, sent to four different temporary accommodations. She told the Daily Record : “The experience we’ve had is like something out of a horror movie.
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Tony Nicoletti/Daily Record)
“We are now looking to move for the fourth time in less than two years and we’ve been told it could be five years at least before we can expect suitable council accommodation. My stress has been through the roof and trying to contain my child with very complex needs, without proper support, has been hard on all of us.
“When we got a move last April to a two bed flat in Castlemilk it was on the first floor, despite requests for a ground floor due to safety concerns that Daria may be able to open the windows and climb out. She has no sense of danger.
“The property was severely damaged, with water damage, a dead rat, piles of cat poo, mouldy mattresses and controlled medication behind child’s bed. It wasn’t fit for any family to stay in.”
Latest statistics show 16,300 households are officially homeless – the highest since Scottish government records began in 2002. There was also a record 10,000 youngsters waiting for a permanent home.
Glaswegian Michelle has been forced to share a single bed with daughter Daria, 11, who has complex special needs. She added: “The Scottish Government needs to put a priority on vulnerable families like ours and get proper, secure accommodation made available right now.
“They need to build more homes and to get moving on building programmes because I worry so much that my kids’ futures are being damaged every day they are in this low grade temporary accommodation – which seems more endless than temporary. All we want is a secure place where the kids will be safe. They have told us it will likely be a five-year wait.”
Glasgow City Council, which has declared a housing emergency, has this week found another flat for Michelle in Dalmarnock, in the city’s east end. A spokeswoman said: “We are in a housing crisis and unfortunately the demand for permanent accommodation far outstrips availability and supply. That means people – particularly larger families with children – are spending longer in temporary accommodation than anyone would wish.”
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