Jenny Thomson, her husband and three-year-old daughter were forced into homelessness last year after being kicked out of their house. The first temporary home that was chosen for them by a housing officer from Darlington Borough Council was an Airbnb property where cleaners regularly came into the house without announcing their arrival beforehand. They were then moved into a budget hotel in Darlington, without being told that there were no cooking appliances or washing machine available to them.
Ms Thomson said: "We were plunged into debt having to borrow from friends to eat and clean our clothes. "Then our housing officer found us a temporary flat 17 days after entering the hotel. "When we got to the flat I had never seen any place so disgusting in my life.
"There was grime all over every floor and the walls, the oven was unusable and had never been cleaned - I won’t even go into detail about the bathroom, it made me physically sick. "I had to spend nine days cleaning and working around my daughter and partner, scrubbing someone else’s filth from the whole flat." Ms Thomson said the family had been told that they had to wait 17 days for the flat because of construction and cleaners.
She added: "We were in that flat for about three months." Thankfully, the family are now in a new home - but said they were "shocked" by their experience with temporary accommodation. Ms Thomson added that no family should have to go through such experiences when they are already in a difficu.