I wash my kids' school uniforms in the shower after being forced to live in a Travelodge – the council isn't helping | The Sun
A MUM says she has no choice but to wash her kids' school uniforms in a hotel shower after being forced to live in a Travelodge.
Kirsty Warner, 36, and her two sons are also having to live off takeaways for breakfast, lunch and dinner because they don't have a kitchen or fridge.
The young London family spend hours of the day travelling on public transport so the boys can get to school, but Kirsty says the boys also spend hours "crying themselves to sleep".
The single mum says living in the Travelodge is "costing an absolute fortune", and claims the council isn't helping her family in their desperate time of need.
Kirsty was kicked out of her rental, which she had called home for 10 years, as the landlord wanted to sell up.
The Enfield Council moved them into emergency accommodation but the mum says it's totally unfit for the family's needs and is miles from their old home – and the boys' school.
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We’ve been living in a Travelodge for 4 MONTHS, it’s hell
Kirsty and her boys, who are aged five and 10, also have to move rooms – with all their possessions – every couple of days"because the council doesn't book them early enough".
The mum is mostly worried about her sons.
Kirsty told MyLondon: "The older one's got ADHD and he hates being in confined spaces.
"And the younger one is being tested for ADHD but he has breathing difficulties.
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"Being in here where it’s so enclosed… I’ve sent him to school today with a bad chest."
Since the family were booted out of their home earlier this month, Kirsty has had to adapt.
She said: "The kids clothes get washed in the shower, the little ones bottles get washed in the sink."
The two-minute walk from their old home to the boys' school has been replaced with a walk and bus ride – which takes more than an hour.
Kirsty said she spends more than four hours a day just doing the morning and afternoon school runs.
'TIRED AND DRAINED'
She said: "The kids really aren't coping with it.
"They’re crying their selves to sleep. I want to go home. I feel so tired and drained.
"And it’s costing an absolute fortune getting backwards and forwards, and food, because you’ve got to live off a takeaway for breakfast lunch and dinner."
The mum says she's also worried about being so far away from her five-year-old, who she says has already been raced to hospital multiple times this year.
She said: "I could get a call from the school saying that he’s had to go to hospital in an ambulance, and I wouldn’t be able to get there quickly."
Kirsty said she is hunting for a new home, but is struggling to find anything "in the council’s price range".
She claims the council isn't helping her, adding: "I only got my housing officer about two days ago.
"The day I came in here I was meant to transfer from one housing officer to another but I didn’t get one."
COUNCIL 'DON'T HELP'
She added: "I spent a week constantly trying to get though to someone on the phone to find out who my housing officer was."
The mum said she has spoken to two housing officers, and they've given her different information.
She said: "One housing officer told me I could have £1,600 [rent allowance]… but this housing officer is telling me I will be entitled to less."
Kirsty continued: "They’re meant to help but they don’t.
"They say it’s your responsibly to find your own property, but there aren't any properties out there, and there aren't any properties in the council’s price range."
The Sun Online has contacted the Enfield Council for comment.
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If you're left homeless, or living in poor conditions, you can apply to live in a council house.
Read more about council housing, and how to apply, here.
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