A family priced out of private rental properties have been 'dumped and forgotten about' in a 'filthy' city hotel.
Joanna Wilson and Cory Mangen, along with their two sons aged four and ten, were served an eviction notice by their landlord after he sold up during the pandemic.
They had spent 11 years at the home in Bartley Green, Birmingham and had made it their own, Birmingham Mail reported.
They were therefore devastated when they were given six months to find a new place.
Unable to afford anything on the private market, the couple - who both work at an adult gaming centre - contacted Birmingham City Council.
They were offered places to stay in Wolverhampton and Telford by the authority, which receives 500 applications for housing a week.
Because they don't drive they turned the offers down.
Instead, the family-of-four were given a room in the Cobden Hotel where they have been staying since September 28.
The children, one of whom has autism, now face daily 6am bus trips into Birmingham city centre and back out to Bartley Green, to get to school on time.
The family are forced to use a communal kitchen - dubbed 'filthy' by Joanna - to make their meals, and eat on beds in their cramped hotel room.
Their belongings were left in sheds and garages belonging to friends, and they were 'living out of a suitcase', they said.
The children had no room to play and instead spent their evenings watching TV, they added.
The family, Joanna claimed, felt 'constantly unsafe and on edge'.
A spokesman for the hotel said communal areas are 'deep cleaned four times a day' and checked regularly.
Joanna, 34, said: "The room is cramped and has three single beds for the four of us. We have a communal kitchen, which was filthy.
"I've not been contacted by anyone from the council, I called them only to be told our application for housing hasn't even been assessed yet because of delays owing to Covid.
"As it stands, we don't know what will happen next. It's my son's birthday in December and obviously Christmas too.
"I can't even contemplate buying presents as we don't have anywhere to put them and I don't feel safe here.
"We are having to get up at 4am every day and leave the hotel at 6am, to catch multiple buses in and out of the city centre to get to school and work.
"My children are exhausted. On the first day we arrived here they cried non-stop.
"We have been cooped up in one room for weeks, the boys have no toys here. We are living out of one suitcase.
"We dread coming home from work and school every day to this.
"It is heart breaking. I feel like I've paid my way through life and now no-one is here to help me when I need it the most."
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said it was 'well known' the authority had a long waiting list for its housing register.
"Due to confidentiality we cannot comment on individual cases," they said.
"However, it is well known that Birmingham City Council has a long waiting list for people applying to be on its housing register," the spokesman said.
"We have already taken steps, including additional resources, to address the time that it has been taking in order to assess applications to the housing register.
"We are pleased to say those waiting times are reducing, and there is a plan in place to bring these in line with our service standards."
Tom Watkins, operations manager at the Cobden Hotel, said: "The communal kitchens are deep cleaned four times a day by staff and are regularly checked throughout the day.
"Unfortunately we can check the kitchen at say 3pm but by 3:30pm it can be messy if other residents do not clean up after themselves.
"We can't follow each resident around to make sure they don't make a mess.
"If the resident would like to discuss this with me directly, I would happily sit down with her and discuss her concerns."
