Outcry over mum and five kids in one hotel room due to Scotland's homelessness crisis

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A mum and five children shared one hotel room for nearly two months due to Scotland’s shameful housing shortage.Melanie Kivlin, 40, and her children relied on pot noodles and other kettle-based food while awaiting a move to a “temporary home”, where they are still stuck, 17 months later.She said he has only spoken to her appointed homelessness officer with Edinburgh City Council once in more than 18 months.Homeless charity Shelter said the dire case of the Kivlin family is becoming typical, as the chronic failure to build social housing over decades is now biting hard.The Kivlin family example highlights the deepening crisis that is hitting Scotland, just a week after it was revealed that 16,000 children became homeless last year.A record number of families and children are also living in temporary accommodation.Melanie said: “The situation is dire and all I want is a safe roof over my children’s heads and a stable school life for them all.“I couldn’t really believe it when we were told last year that the best the homelessness services could offer was one hotel room.“They said that the budget didn’t allow two rooms, so we had six people in one hotel room.“Hotel staff were and they went beyond the call of duty for us.

But they couldn’t believe we were living like that.”She added: “We were getting breakfast boxes supplied but the kids soon went off them, so we were resorting to porridge pots and pot noodles.“I went to my mum’s twice a week for a meal and to get laundry done but it was a tough life living in that one room with five kids.

I pity any other family that has to do it.”Melanie was moved after more than six weeks at the Travel Lodge in Dreghorn to a temporary four bedroom property in the Clovenstone neighbourhood