A distraught mum has said her family can no longer cope after being forced to live in a single room with a baby, her teenage daughter and son who has autism and her 71-year-old mother.
Oana Stafie said her family had been on the waiting list for social housing for three years and the council has let her down.
Mum-of-two Oana says every day is a challenge living in cramped temporary accommodation she shares with her kids and mum. Since last June the family have been sharing a single room with a double bed and two single beds are crammed into it.
The family, including an autistic 18-year-old and one-year-old baby, are forced to share the cramped conditions, according to Oana, 40, who moved to the UK seven years ago.
"It's very challenging, it's tough mentally. I can't explain," the desperate mum told Birmingham Live.
Oana, who moved from Romania, told how her living conditions were unsuitable for a family of their size, while her elderly mother has to clamber up a flight of stairs with health problems.
"When you have a small child it needs your attention, it's crying. We don't have space," she explained.
"We are forced to stay sometimes with friends so we can have somewhere to do laundry and for a small baby to move around. She continued: "I don't have space to do laundry. We live on the second floor, there's no lift.
"My mum is almost crawling - she's 71 years old. She has a heart condition, and blood pressure... Every time she comes up she's breathless. She has been admitted to hospital a few times.
The uncertainty about how long the family will have to stay living in the cramped accommodation in Erdington adds to Ms Stafie's worries and she has no idea when her housing nightmare will end. "We started bidding (for properties) a long time ago. We had a notice from our last landlord to move and we have been living here since last June," she added.
After the case was raised with Birmingham City Council by BirminghamLive, housing bosses have now pledged to look at her case and help the family get a more suitable property. It comes after our investigation into council house registers revealed how there are many other applicants like Ms Stafie who spend years on waiting lists.
Birmingham City Council has a waiting list of more than 20,000 and chiefs said the level of demand means some people will face long waits before being given a property. A spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear about how long this tenant has been waiting for a larger property and the impact that it has had on their family.
"Due to the national housing crisis and an acute shortage of properties in the city, unfortunately there is a very long waiting list for housing in Birmingham. The council recently reviewed its allocation policy to ensure that it is prioritising the most urgent cases.
"We have asked the tenant's housing officer to again look at their case and work with them to find the most suitable accommodation to meet their needs including renting in the private sector which may be the quickest way of getting them a larger property."
