An eight-year-old boy and his mother have been made homeless by a council days before Christmas. Marcel and his mum Sarah were moved into a hotel room by Cardiff City Council after they were evicted from their rented flat.
The youngster fears that Santa Claus will not be able to find him as he has been thrown out of his own home. The widowed mother remembered her son asking: “How is Santa going to find me if we are homeless?”
She told the BBC: “No kid should ever say that. He shouldn’t have to worry about Christmas or whether he’s going to get presents or not.”
Marcel, who has learning difficulties, fails to understand why he is not sleeping in his own bedroom. In a clip, Sarah shows the hotel room where they will call home for the time being.
She said: “I am grateful for this room but, obviously, I don’t want to stay here a long time. Around the double bed shared by the mother and son, their belongings can be seen piled up the shelves and spread across the small accommodation.”
Sarah explained Marcel isn’t able to sleep that much as he wakes up scared many nights due to the noise in the hotel. She told BBC: “He wakes up saying: ‘I don’t like the dark,’ screaming,” Sarah said. Without routine, he just goes haywire, it’s just meltdown over meltdown and then kicks off and gets angry.”
The mother and son duo are waiting for the council to find them somewhere permanent to live after they were evicted when their landlord sold up.
The boy said: “It gets a little bit lonely with no visitors. And pets are not allowed.”
The Welsh government declared a “health crisis” due to the number of people living in temporary housing. Despite having a “good supply” of temporary housing for 1,700 families, Cardiff council claimed it was facing “unprecedented demand,” forcing it to shelter 202 more households in five hotels across the city.
