A single mum has been moved to a four-bedroom house with 11 people and where she and her kids only have one bedroom to share between them.
Nadia Zaman, 38,was evicted from her home in Walthamstow after her marriage broke down and she was no longer able to make rent.
On the day she was evicted, Nadia feared for her family's safety and as she and her kids aged four, eight and 10 were given a last-minute accommodation in an eight-bedroom home with single men.
Nadia, who was lived her whole life in Walthamstow, and her kids had to push a single and a double mattress together and use that as a bed in the only room made available for them, MyLondon reports.
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The Redbridge house was filthy, with dead mice laying on glue traps in the kitchen, cigarette butts in the toilet and mysterious stains in the shower, as well as signs in the kitchen complaining about food being stolen from the fridge.
"The council offered me one room in Redbridge, and it was absolutely disgusting. The room was small, there was only one bed and they wanted all four of us to sleep in it," Nadia said.
"There were all men living there, all single people, no other families.
"In the kitchen I spotted the mouse traps with three dead mice in them, and that's what the council wanted me to accept. It was an awful place."
Nadia was told she must accept the housing by 12.30pm the following day or risk being left without help.
She said: "They said if you don't accept the room, then we will be free of our duty to you. We won't offer you anything else.
"It was like they were forcing me to take it."
But after hearing about the hygiene issues in the household, the council agreed to relocated Nadia once more.
In a statement issued to the Waltham Forest Echo, Waltham Forest Council said: "We apologise unreservedly to the family involved.
"We will continue to work with them to find a solution in the short and longer term."
Despite this, Nadia said she had not heard any apology directly from the council, though she is to meet with two councillors later this week to discuss her current housing situation.
The mother and her children had to sofa-surf for several days before they could move into a new council property.
The four-bedroom house in Leyton where they are currently living is occupied by 11 people altogether, and Nadia and her kids are still sharing one bedroom.
This time, however, there are three beds for the family of four.
The house has one small bathroom that is to be shared between the almost-dozen tenants, which Nadia says is a big problem when she and the other families are all trying to get their children ready for bed and to go to school.
Nadia said: "When I got my children up in the morning to brush their teeth and get ready for school, there was already someone in the shower.
"Then there was another lady in front of us in the queue, me and my kids, and another lady behind us. The bathroom queue in the mornings is just terrible."
Nadia's three children all go to school in Walthamstow, and even the new home she has been offered in Leyton requires two bus journeys to get them to and from school.
Nadia knows that she is eligible for a three-bedroom council home long-term, and said that the uncertainty of temporary housing is having a huge impact on her and her children's mental health.
She said: "In the past two weeks since I got my eviction letter, I've been getting on top of everything possible with the council but I've not had any good response from them.
"They know I've been evicted, they know I've got three young children, they know all my children go to school in Walthamstow.
"Because I'm a single mum, I can't just be put in one place temporarily, then another place, then another place.
"It's impacting my children's social and mental health as well as mine. My daughter, who's ten, was crying at school saying she didn't know if she was going to go back to school and see her friends."
When approached by MyLondon about Nadia's situation, a spokesperson from Waltham Forest Council said they could not comment on individual cases.
The spokesperson said: "Waltham Forest, like all London boroughs, faces significant constraints in meeting the needs of its residents who require housing assistance.
"When a family approach us we look for the most suitable available accommodation to meet the immediate needs of the household, while we explore and source a longer-term solution.
"At the same time, we encourage the household to look for suitable properties which meet their preferences in the private rented sector.
"The council will normally pay any deposit that is required as long as the accommodation is affordable to the household.
"By law, councils can accommodate households in shared accommodation for up to six weeks, while we do our best to avoid this, unfortunately it is sometimes inevitable.
“In the last financial year we received 185 urgent requests for temporary accommodation and we work hard to find a solution for everyone who approached us in line with our Temporary Accommodation policy."
