All I want for Christmas this year is a home for me and my children

It feels like I’m in prison, but I don’t know what my sentence is, as I’ve not been told how long I have to stay here

Many are homeless or in temporary accommodation around Christmas (Getty)

All I want for Christmas this year is a home. That is it. It’s something that too many of us take for granted but it is the one thing that I want be able to give my children more than anything else.

I’m a teacher. I work full time. But I am homeless with my children, aged four and 11.

We became homeless after we were evicted from the house we’d been privately renting for four years. I’d been living there with my partner, but when we split up the rent became very difficult to afford, although I just about managed on my teacher salary.

Then the landlord put the rent up by £100 a month and I couldn’t afford that. I had to wait to get evicted by bailiffs before the council would help me.

The council put me into three different temporary accommodation places, two of which were unsuitable. I’ve been in my current temporary accommodation since August.

It’s very difficult living here. It’s not a flat – it’s a self-contained living space within a hostel. I have to sign in at the next door hotel every day. There’s no living space because the living room has been turned into a bedroom. All of our belongings are in bags or in council storage which I have to pay £50 a time to access.

The rent here is £226 a week. It’s not exactly cheap considering what it is.

I found a rat in the kitchen when we first moved in. I immediately worried for the health of my children. They have severe allergies, especially my daughter who can go into anaphylactic shock if she’s even around a food she is allergic to.

My son’s asthma kept flaring up, and my daughter was saying that her throat kept tickling, and that’s a sign when she’s starting to react to something. I took them both to the doctors and said there are rats where we are living and the doctor said, well rats, they carry allergens, with your children’s allergies it is likely that they will react. She wrote a letter stating that we should be rehoused on the basis of this infestation.

The children had to go and sleep on my mum’s sofa. I asked my brother to stay with them because my mum is really poorly and can’t really care for them herself. I’m my mum’s carer.

The manager of the hostel sent a pest control guy who put down poison and confirmed it was rats. The council sent someone to inspect the suitability of my accommodation but he told me that rats are everywhere and I just had to deal with it.

My children are back now and I’m hoping the rats are dead, but I’m always on the lookout for them. I don’t like cooking in the kitchen because that’s where I saw the rat.

We try to stay out of here for as long as possible – it’s just somewhere to sleep. The children can’t play because there’s no space.

The behaviour of my children has completely gone downhill. My children were so well behaved and I know, being a teacher, how environment can affect them. They have really been affected by it. My son is so naughty all of a sudden and its down to all the changes – there is no stability. My son loves his cars – he wants space to put them down and to play, and my daughter has nowhere proper to do her homework, it’s just really difficult.

Outside there are prostitutes. I can see them every night. Literally opposite my window, shouting, calling, hollering people to come. So many fights have gone on outside and I’m constantly on edge.

We can’t have visitors, so nobody can come around.

It actually feels like I’m in prison, but I don’t know what my sentence is, as I’ve not been told how long I have to stay here.

Shelter has been my backbone from the day I was evicted. I am constantly recommending Shelter when I meet people in my situation and I’m so grateful for all the hard work my adviser has done on my behalf. Without them, I wouldn’t know about housing law and I wouldn’t be able to fight this battle in the way I am.

My worst case scenario is to be living here for Christmas. That is my nightmare.

Zahra Jones is a pseudonym. This account was provided by Shelter