Homeless in a travelodge - any tips???

[Mooovingonout]

Anyone have any advice?

Currently staying in a travelodge as my landlord sold the house and we couldn't find anywhere else to rent.

Any tips to make this whole ordeal better???

The hotel floor we're on stinks of weed. Constant doors opening at night and running in halls. Kids are asleep and oblivious thankfully

You can boil an egg in a kettle - take the lid off so it continues to boil, keep a close eye on it so it doesn't run dry. Bit of a faff but might be worth a go.

Ask the hotel what they are going to do about the weed as it is still illegal.

It is shocking that a working family end up in this position. Needing someone with a £35k income is madness. That excludes teachers, nurses and police officer, among many other people. Is that the country we are, where key workers are unable to get secure housing.

As for food, try your local Sikh temple. They will feed you.

Talk to Shelter or CAB. They sometimes have links to professional companies (like law firms etc) that can act as character references that could be used instead of a guarantee. Obviously it depends on the individual landlord about what they want but cast the net as wide as possible. In terms of food - there are mosques, ISKON temples, and gurudwaras across London who will provide free food 3 x a day to the homeless. Some will deliver to the disabled so call around. If you can let me know roughtly what area I’ll get you numbers.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain - almost all pans work on induction hobs. Our ancient crappy ones work on new induction. Op could buy a basic saucepan if they wanted this route

I see now op said they can’t have any cool stuff anyway, this was a suggestion a week or so ago before that info.
However, these ikea induction hob are small. Much smaller than say microwave. I would personally just sneak one in and use anyway. Just making sure after each use they wait until cool ( pretty quick) and just put in away inside a zipped bag. Housekeeping would never know and they can’t go looking through peoples stuff. At least op could then warm some ready made soup or pasta some times

Think there'd be money for both tbh. But the children deserve to have a decent meal once a day at least, particularly as they're no longer at school.

Another vote here for contacting Shelter. Always worth a try. Also worth looking at other organisations, some housing associations take direct applications, not all need to be referrals from the LA. Apologies OP, if you’ve already gone down those routes.

I agree with people saying get a slow cooker. You can make really delicious home cooked food for a fraction of the price of even the cheapest fast food, and the home cooking smells will cancel out the smell of weed to some extent. Put soft music on in the background. Chase the council daily about your situation. Look online every day for affordable rentals and tell landlords outside your area as some get given rentals outside their area and are less likely to have waiting tenants. DS got a flat in a massively pressured London market because it was in the East End but marketed by a North London agent so they didn't have the list of waiting clients in that area.

Surely you get some UC if your joint salary is £30k and you have 3 children? Can't they take that into account? Also child benefit?

Do you have family who could take DS Year 11 until he finishes exams?

I don't know what you would do for Christmas dinner - it sounds like you have family who may invite you over.

It sounds stressful if you need a carer with you at all times.

Are you on list for council house?

I don't think you should get cooking equipment if they have already noticed toaster. Maybe mini fridge would help.

Sorry it sounds hard for you.

Sorry to hear about your situation presume you’re local authority doesn’t have a rent deposit scheme? Then a guarantor would not be needed. Also look on DSS Move as properties come up that don’t need a guarantor.
On another note be careful about thinking you are not being charged for the travel lodge housing in my experience would ask for a financial contribution as you’re a working family. Also food banks are for people that are in financial hardship so not sure the official ones would give you food as suggested by a previous poster, church ones don’t ask many questions. Glad you have some family to help & hope it works out for you

I blame buy to let landlords. They are largely responsible for pushing up house prices out of reach of the average worker as well of course as governments who have spectacularly failed to provide enough affordable social housing. There are plenty of these landlords on mumsnet and I hope they see this post. They will dress it up though as them being great landlords and providing homes for the poor people who can't afford to buy. ! Op I hope you aren't in this situation for long.

Just thinking what you can make with just a kettle for some hot room snacks.

Rice noodles- just pour on hot water. Add soy and peanut butter.
(Peanut butter also in sandwiches)
Cous cous- just pour on hot water, could add a stock cube. Could add all sorts to this- packs of cooked chicken, tin of chickpeas, chopped salad.
Smashed potatoes with grated cheese.

You can buy plug in boiled egg makers in Home Bargains. They’re small so you could hide them. It’s annoying you can’t make toast though. Maybe you could try them with breadsticks to dip in? Or crusty bread.

Custard powder just needs hot water, could have with chopped banana.

I would buy a big fleece blanket to put on the floor to play on.

Agree I’d keep some background noise to drown out other noise. You could pick if you want forest sounds/ocean sounds etc to make it more fun for the kids.

When I was between homes a few years ago I spent time moving around between Travelodges (there were three in the area so I spent a week in whichever worked out cheapest before moving on). I found the best thing was to not take it too seriously and imagine myself as Alan Partridge living in his Linton Travel Tavern. Give yourself a target to spend less than 183 days living there.

I'll add to the suggestions of instant noodles by including pre-cooked meat or fish, which really turns them into a filling meal (been there, done that myself)

Are you seriously trying to shame someone who has found themselves in a shitty situation through no fault of their own?

Children also deserve a home, as do their parents. It’s not down to the OP that the council have stuck them in a hotel room where they’re not even allowed to cook.

That poster posted 10 days ago. From what I can see the OP has only posted today saying she isn't allowed appliances

They’re probably paying for storage for their belongings - I was paying £400 a month for a 35sq ft unit, which was not even close to big enough to store half of our items.

Social housing comes with no carpets or flooring of any any kind, no blinds, no curtains, not even curtain poles, no white goods.

OP - my income is 47K (salary, HR DLA for middle child and child support payments, which have always been paid on time every month for over a decade). Okay credit score (as in no CCJS or defaults but I only have a phone on credit, no credit card etc), high earning, home owner Guarantor. Great references. As soon as I said “No, I’m the only adult moving in” - EAs and LLs said “sorry, working couples only”. It is NOT YOUR FAULT.

I looked at 3 beds. (Have 3DDs). I looked within a 10 mile radius of our current area as it was a cheap Midlands city with excellent transport so they could stay at the same schools and I could still travel to work (don’t drive).

I enquired about 2 beds and was told a firm NO when I said I have 3DDs due to overcrowding and insurance or something. I’d have taken a studio flat if it meant avoiding bailiffs and temp accom.

I have a degree, I’m well presented/put together, I did a small file to hand out containing all my financial info and references, evidence of having 6 months rent + deposit saved, etc.

I didn’t avoid court/bailiffs so now my credit is trashed. I avoided temp accom because I had a breakdown (I was already under CMHT for CPTSD and this made it even worse) and a friend took me and DDs in, two counties over from where we were. She also used local contacts to find us a new private rent in her area. So we upended our entire lives the summer before my children were entering Y10/Y7/Y2.

The system is fucking broken. I’ve been a single parent for a long time and have never struggled to find a private rent before, not even when I was a mature student.

Get on the managers good side and ask to try some other rooms. Highest floor, end of a through corridor, not overlooking car park.

Im sorry too op. This is so not your fault.

Sorry to read about your situation and hope it gets resolved soon. I have to say I absolutely admire your positivity and resilience. You sound fantastic and upbeat despite your circumstances. You have pointed out again and again about family, your kids ability to get to school, etc. and despite the difficulties you come across as an amazing woman/family.

Wishing you the best.

Pot noodles: break up the noodles with a fork and then add less water than it tells you to. Put the foil back into place and leave them 5 minute not 3. Add lots of ketchup from a bottle. Sauce is much thicker so wont drip on your clothes and bedding and much nicer.

Porridge oats, just plain ordinary oats (micro oats if available) can be made into porridge in a mug or bowl by adding boiling water covering with a plate or saucer and leaving to stand. The water forms a pretty nice oat milk. A small amount of sultanas or sugar is a lovely addition. But it's the difference of 70p a kilo or £1 a pot for the addition of some dried milk and sugar.

Good luck and I hope your situation improves rapidly. The Hare Krishna's tended to do a turn up and eat vegetarian spread every week in the past but I don't know if there's one near you.

No real advice I'm afraid, but just wanted to say I'm so sorry you're in this situation and I hope things improve for you soon. 💐

Oh this makes me so angry OP.
When is the government going to open their eyes on this.
I've said it before, the private sector has completely and utterly failed to provide safe, affordable secure housing and we have walked into a housing emergency as a result. The time has long passed that the government should has stepped in and built housing themselves. We need a mass prefab council house/flat building programme. And before anyone starts whinging 'we can't afford it' this is short sighted in the extreme. The NIMBYs can all f-off as well.

Sorry for my rant OP, I hope you're able to make the best of it and get something more permeant soon.

Sorry I have not read the thread just ops ones.

Have you asked for a suitability review for the accommodation they have put you in ? Based on your disability and all your other concerns. If it was me I would also play on the fact it's unaffordable due to the fact you can't cook there. And you have to eat out which is unaffordable but you obviously have to eat .

Have you been in contact with an occupational therapist within the council as they can do assessments to see if your accommodation is suitable. If not council have to move you to something more suitable for your needs.

Also have have the council offered you a full duty yet .

I don't know if it's same with your council . But when my son was doing his gcses we were classed as an in borough need
So they either keep you in borough or as close as possible.

Re white noise, I have a free app on my phone called Rain Rain which has a number of sounds available for free. I use the brown noise and airline noise mostly and there's ocean sounds too.

FWIW I would still a do not disturb sign on the door and use an appliance if you think it's safe and won't set off the smoke alarm.

I know it's good that the council have found you somewhere to sleep as an emergency, but not being able to provide hot food for yourself without having to resort to expensive takeaways is crazy.

For breakfast I'd just have cereals, etc, if you've got a fridge? I know the last budget hotel I stayed in (a Holiday Inn) had removed all the fridges from the rooms

I hope you're moved in to more suitable accommodation soon OP.