A mum and her three children were forced to live in a single Travelodge room for six months.
Charlene Pascoe, 34, and her family were evicted from their house earlier this year when their landlord decided to move back in. Charlene is from Cornwall, a county where in some places up to 40% of properties are used as second homes, so she has struggled to find anywhere else to live.
The eviction left Charlene, Freya, 12, Kieran, ten and Darcy, two, with no option but to squeeze into one Travelodge hotel room for months on end while the council tried to rehome them.
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Some six months later, the family of four have now finally moved into a house of their own. Ocean Housing, a social and affordable housing association based in St Austell, was able to provide the struggling family a home in the local area.
Charlene said: "To say we were elated would be an understatement. Myself and three children sharing one room was possibly the hardest period of our lives. That was until September the 8th when I received a call from Ocean Housing to say we'd been shortlisted for a new build house in our chosen area. It really is the most beautiful home and I still can't quite believe we are lucky enough to call it our home. It is beyond our dreams."
After six months of living in a room with just three beds, a bathroom, a kettle and a cool box, with no kitchen or living area, the family were losing hope. Charlene, a support worker for adults, couldn't find anywhere in the area that was affordable for her family and was worried her children would have to move school.
She added at the time: "Renting privately is just too expensive so we are limited in the options we have. All I can do is keep looking for council housing in the hope that I get lucky - although at the minute it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel."
Their new home is within an ongoing multi-million pound social housing development on a former council estate. A group of 60 homes in total are being built, all of which are a combination of social housing and purchasable shared-ownership homes.
Charlene, who was having to cook and clean everything at her mum's house every day whilst living at the Travelodge, has described her move as a "dream come true". She said: "Ocean Housing have been absolutely amazing, explaining all of my questions and giving us support when we've needed it. I just want to say thank you to Ocean for making our dreams come true.”
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