Woman says nine-year wait for council house made her feel ‘hopeless’

A mother who spent nine years in temporary accommodation has told how the experience made her feel “hopeless and worthless”.

Stacey Grieve, 32, and her son Archie have a council house, but Ms Grieve said growing up in temporary accommodation had left her seven-year-old “unsettled”.

The family had to move between different accommodations, with Ms Grieve saying there were times when her son had to stay with his grandparents while she was “fighting for a home”.

They spoke out about their experiences in the wake of a Shelter Scotland report earlier this week, which claimed youngsters are being harmed by Scotland’s “broken and biased” homelessness system.

As part of the research, children living in temporary accommodation told their stories of sleeping in beds covered with black mould, as well as being placed in accommodation with urine-soaked carpets, dead rats and broken windows.

Ms Grieve, from Edinburgh, claimed some of the conditions she had had to live in were “disgraceful”, adding: “You wouldn’t want to put anyone in there.

She recalled: “It was disgusting. In one place there was urine on the carpet. Archie was crawling, he was just learning to walk.

“We had to go out and purchase carpets, new beds, new couches and things like that. We couldn’t bring the furniture from the other house to the new one because we couldn’t get a van, and stuff like that.

“So, every house we moved out of, we’ve had to leave furniture and then start from scratch.”

Archie, meanwhile, said: “It was sad. I had to leave my toys behind and my bed behind. My desk bed, it was a very high bed and had storage under the stairs.

“It was my favourite and now I don’t have it.”

The family were given a council home by Edinburgh City Council in November 2023.

Shelter Scotland said while homeless families in Scotland spend an average 234 days in temporary accommodation, households in Edinburgh have to spend an average of 546 days in temporary accommodation.

Meanwhile, Ms Grieve told how the experience had impacted her son, saying: “It breaks my heart Archie had to grow up so unsettled.

“One minute you’re here, the next minute you’re there, then he always says at night time: ‘Mum, are you going to be there when I wake up?’”

The mother-of-one continued: “There’s times where he’s had to go to my mum’s or to his other nanny’s, because of the situations and fighting for a home.

“It’s been horrible. The council made me feel hopeless and worthless. I just want change for people. No-one should have to go through this.“

Scottish Government figures showed that as of September 30 last year, there were 16,634 households living in temporary accommodation – with this including 10,360 children.

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: “Every child in Scotland has the right to grow up in a safe, secure and affordable home.”

She added: “Everyone experiencing homelessness should be given access to temporary housing while they await the outcome of their application. It should act as a safety net and a first step out of crisis, rather than causing a new crisis in itself.

“What has become clear from this research is that for children, unfortunately, their experience is all too often the latter. ”

Edinburgh City Council has been contacted for comment.