Mum admits she gave up four of her children because she couldn't afford them

A mum has admitted to giving up four of her seven kids because she "just couldn't afford" them.

Hebriella George, from New South Wales, Australia, is one of 160,000 people in the country waiting for public housing.

She says that she's been unable to give her kids "the home they deserve" because she couldn't afford it during her 10-year wait for a home.

"I had to give four of my children up because I just couldn't afford them anymore," she explained. "There are days that I don't even know what to put on the table to feed them.

"It makes me break down that I can't give my kids the home they deserve."

Despite applying for 60 to 70 properties during her decade-long wait, she's been unable to find anywhere.

Hebriella George says she gave up four of her seven kids because she couldn't afford to keep them while waiting for a housing placement (Ten)

But when she found a house in Sydney covered in mould and infested with rats, she was sure she was on to a winner because no one else would apply to pay £250 per week for it.

Speaking to Australian outlet The Project, she said: "I knew looking at the picture that no one was going to apply for that home because I wouldn't have done it myself if I wasn't desperate, but I was."

The grimy condition of the home has forced the mum-of-seven to chuck away heaps of her belongings, she says, adding that the house was her only choice, with the other option being living in her car.

Most of her children have to live with their dad because he's in a better financial position, she says.

The home she found was infested with mould and rats (Ten)

In New South Wales, there are around 220,000 people considered homeless, spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, or living in substandard properties, according to the CEO of Community Housing Industry Association Mark Degotardi.

Earlier this year, UK homelessness charity Shelter said it's taking calls from around 1,000 people a day who are in "dire situations" due to the cost-of-living crisis.

As private rents surge and energy bills at sky-high levels, its advisers are also braced for a sharp rise in the numbers losing their homes in the next 12 months.

She said she had to throw away a number of her belongings due to the grimness of the home (Ten)

At least three individuals who called the organisation’s emergency helpline when The Mirror visited the office in Sheffield had been served with Section 21 notices.

Introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Government under the 1988 Housing Act, it allows landlords to evict tenants on a whim and without reason.

Tory Governments since 2018 have promised to abolish the so-called ‘no-fault evictions’ - but the legislation has been hit by multiple delays.

One man from south-east England asked an adviser how they were supposed to manage while a woman, who had been served an eviction notice, recognised the severity of the situation and said: “I could be homeless”.