Perched on the edge of a single bed in a cold and grubby box room, Kim could hear the rats as they nibbled away at her clothes.
The mother and her two young children, one who has autism, were kept awake by the alcoholic living in the room next door. They didn't dare use the shared bathroom until they knew he had passed out.
Kim, 32, who has asked to stay anonymous, presented as homeless to Manchester council in August after a family fall-out. Unable to afford a deposit on a private rental place, she had nowhere else to turn.
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Since then, she and her sons have been passed around Manchester council's overburdened homelessness services, desperate for a safe place to live. In three months she lived in seven different properties - six hotels and B&Bs, before finally being given a temporary home.
It's a confusing and dehumanising route that too many families are having to take, as the city's affordable housing crisis and the surging cost of living pushes more and more people to the edge.
When the Manchester Evening News first spoke to Kim and her sons, aged three and five, they had spent a night in a hotel in Harpurhey before being offered a room at Fallowfield Lodge in south Manchester - one of many B&Bs used by the council as a last resort.
Originally from Wythenshawe, the mum-of-two found herself away from her support networks, having to fend for herself and her young family in this difficult new environment.
And yet Kim's story is not uncommon. Despite a shocking M.E.N investigation in 2018, which revealed the squalid living conditions faced by Manchester's 'hidden homeless' population, three years on, around 180 families are still housed in temporary accommodation.
This winter, Manchester council has made a renewed pledge to 'considerably reduce the use of temporary accommodation' - particularly B&Bs. But for those families like Kim's, who find themselves with no other option for months, it can be a frightening experience.
'You could hear the rats every night'
Two single beds and no cooking facilities was what Kim discovered when she was given the key to her room at Fallowfield Lodge. Her two sons were forced to share a bed and the family relied on takeaways - something they could scarcely afford.
Kim could cope with that. But she claims the knowledge that she was living under the same roof as an alcoholic and a registered sex offender tipped her over the edge. "Me and my kids had to share a bathroom with them which was not a pleasant experience to say the least," she recalls.
"You couldn't walk anywhere in the building and not see a rat. I kept all my clothes in bags in the wardrobes and you could hear them going for them every night."
Another resident we spoke to, who claimed she'd been moved there after fleeing an abusive relationship, said she had to call police out to the hotel a number of times. She also described a similar rat infestation as Kim at the facility.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed they were called to the hotel twice in the same week on September 25 and October 1. One of the occasions related to reports of a disturbance involving a male, they said.
Fallowfield Lodge accepted that the facility 'looks after vulnerable people' and said that regular pest control inspections take place, and rooms are cleaned between guests.
Council bosses said that whilst they were unable to comment specifically on Kim's case: "We recognise that B&B-type temporary accommodation is very far from ideal, especially for families, which is why we are working hard to reduce its use as a matter of priority."
Kim was given a room at the hotel - which has an exclusive contract with Manchester City Council - on August 11. She claims she was told she'd be rehomed within six weeks, but, more than ten weeks later, she was still living in hotels.
She's on a huge waiting list of nearly 13,000 for social housing in Manchester. That number is lower than it was during the pandemic, but with just 263 new social rent homes delivered in the city of Manchester last year, a major shortage still exists.
Manchester Council say this figure is set to rise to 534 affordable homes built between 2022 and 2023, with a further 1,285 homes currently under construction. Another 1,100 properties have been granted planning permission.
Surging rents - and few affordable homes
The average time spent in temporary accommodation (TA) for families in Manchester was 227 days (around seven months) in June, and is now predicted to be higher.
As the after-effects of the pandemic continue, and the cost of living crisis worsens, local charities are warning that the situation will get worse.
When we last reported on conditions in the TA sector in Manchester, the number of people presenting as homeless each quarter was 1,700. But, in the three years since, that number has nearly doubled - 3,000 in March 2022.
According to government data, the number of households who became homeless or threatened with homelessness in Manchester is now 29 per cent higher than it was before the pandemic.
And, analysis from housing charity Shelter found that one in every 81 people in the city of Manchester are currently without a home. The city had the highest rate of households becoming homeless in England between January and March this year.
More and more families are finding it difficult to keep up with rent payments, warn Shelter. According to the organisation, over 360,000 renters in the North West are either behind or constantly struggling to pay their rent, a figure which has rapidly increased by 84 per cent since April 2022.
And, when the section 21 'no fault' eviction ban brought in to support tenants during covid was lifted last year - a surge in evictions followed.
"One of the more significant changes the service is now seeing is the main reason for homelessness being 'the end of private rented tenancy or assured tenancy.' This has been steadily rising since last year and signifies the importance of the abolition of section 21 evictions," Manchester Council said in a homelessness update this summer.
Huge rent hikes in Manchester, which are being driven in part by the cost of living and increased demand for housing, have meant that affordable housing in the city is running low.
Rents in Manchester have risen by 23.4 per cent in the last year alone, with the average cost to rent in the city reaching a peak of £1,127 per month - the highest in 16 years. And after mortgage rates spiked in the autumn, there's concern about a new wave of people being pushed into homelessness.
We were told of one recent bidding war for a rental flat which was initially placed on the market at £950 a month, but eventually went for £1,350.
John Ryan, Services Lead at Shelter Manchester said: "Even before the cost of living crisis took hold, thousands of people were being tipped into homelessness because there aren’t enough genuinely affordable homes. Now record-high private rents, on top of crippling food and fuel bills are sending even more people over the edge.
"If families can’t afford rising private rents or fall behind, homelessness becomes a major threat. And, without enough social housing, the pressure on council homelessness services for temporary accommodation is huge. Sadly, families with nowhere else to go are too often ending up in grossly insecure and unsuitable emergency hotels and B&Bs."
'I didn't imagine being treated like this by the city I've always called home'
Housing charity Shelter advises that families like Kim's "should not usually have to stay in privately owned B&B where you share a bathroom, toilet or kitchen with other people. If you do stay in a B&B the council must move you somewhere more suitable within six weeks. If you're under 16 or 17, you should not be housed in a B&B."
But the latest statistics show a worrying increase in the use of B&B style TA for families with children nationally, and nearly a 40pc increase in the number of families staying beyond the legal limit of six weeks, Manchester-based organisation Justlife found.
In an update to Manchester Council's Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee in June, housing bosses warned that the increase in homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation in the city has been 'particularly acute.'
Leaders admitted the number of single people and families currently in bed and breakfast accommodation is "higher than the council would expect and want" as is the "length of time that people remain in B&B before moving to more appropriate temporary or settled accommodation."
Kim claims that when she left Fallowfield Lodge she was placed in a Travelodge right next to the M60, with no cooking facilities.
She claims her social worker told her that neither of these settings were appropriate for a family, especially for her youngest son, who is autistic and said to be deteriorating drastically.
"I'm at breaking point, but I am having to manage because I have children and I am all they've got. It's having a massive impact on my autistic son," she told the M.E.N in September.
"I definitely didn’t imagine to be treated like this by a city I have called home my entire life. It is disgusting. Being a special needs mum I’ve always had to fight for stuff but I didn’t imagine having to fight to get a roof over my family’s head."
Since Kim was made homeless in August, she spent around 10 weeks in six different hotels or B&Bs without cooking or washing facilities.
She has since finally been offered a temporary house, but it's still miles away from her son's school and friends and family. "Finding a private rent is near impossible," she said.
'There's no special accommodation available for families'
The dire B&B conditions described by Kim are something Bloom Street charity Barnabus are acutely aware of, but warn that with spiralling numbers of homeless people, the council is left with no choice.
"There is no special accommodation available for families," CEO Yvonne Hope says. "You will often find that a family is located with a sex-offender or someone with addiction issues.
"We had an issue with a family fleeing an abusive relationship placed somewhere with offenders that really wasn't safe. And we've had quite a few people coming back reporting damp and mould problems."
Yvonne says in extreme cases, the charity has even had to support people to get heating and hot water turned back on at these facilities because they've been left "freezing."
One of her main concerns, she says, is the lack of cooking facilities available at these B&Bs and hotels, meaning people are going hungry, having to buy takeaways or rely on services supplying hot food - who are already extremely stretched.
"People are stuck in these places for nine months at a time without being able to make food," she says. "We have been supporting a mum for some months now and for the last six months she's not been able to cook a meal which is really affecting her mental health."
"It makes it very difficult for them to think about getting housing or getting into work as they aren’t able to think properly and are just in survival mode."
In the last few months, organisations like Barnabus say they are seeing many referrals from people who have never had to use homeless services before - perhaps an ominous sign of what's to come.
Yvonne warns that the city is approaching a 'crunch point' and concedes that Manchester Council are left in an 'impossible situation' due to the lack of available affordable housing to move people from B&Bs into.
"The council has less and less money and they are being pushed into accepting accommodation that even the council wouldn't normally be happy to accept," she says.
Over the last few months we are seeing people who have navigated the homeless service or used a food bank before. It's biting a lot more people."
Yvonne says that with many private landlords now demanding up to six months upfront, it's taking their service users months to find accommodation that isn't - as she puts it - "awful." "Lots of the landlords we work with are very good but we see some tenants try to find places on their own and they are absolutely disgusting," she says.
Ruth Cox, Operations Manager at Justlife, which supports tenants in unsupported temporary accommodation, says the conditions of hotels and B&Bs used by the council are not the only the problem.
"The out of area placements are far worse than the quality of buildings," she said. "If we continue to keep placing people in different boroughs we completely hamper their progress. They are placed in an area they don't know and have to start again with the services.
"Mental health issues won't get addressed, you can't put roots down so you probably turn to drink or drugs. It's happening all the time. You've got Manchester placing people in Bolton for instance and then vice versa."
Justlife are in talks with Manchester Council to find a solution to the temporary accommodation crisis. Ruth Cox says they must find a way to cut reliance on private hotels and B&Bs, which are currently costing the taxpayer around £40 per night, per person.
An Freedom of Information request submitted by the M.E.N revealed that the council spent a net total of £16.4 million on TA and £6.9 million on B&Bs between October 1 2021 and 2022.
'Prevention hubs', 'More choice' and a '10,000 home' promise - What Manchester City Council is doing
Launched this Autumn, the council's homeless transformation plan, named 'A Place Called Home' pledges to increase the successful prevention of homelessness, continue progress to end rough sleeping and considerably reduce the use of temporary accommodation.
Council bosses are urging people at risk of homelessness to present themselves before they reach a crisis point, in the hope that this will reduce the need for hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation.
Three new prevention hubs are being created in Harpurhey, Gorton and Moss Side, with the first in Moss Side opening in October. The others are set to open in the new year.
The council is also said to be continuing their ongoing work with private sector landlords to reduce the number of people who are evicted.
A new housing strategy sets out plans to delivery 1,000 more affordable homes each year and a specific acquisition strategy to buy stock that is likely to be lost from the Private Rented Sector.
In a bid to tackle the heavy reliance on temporary accommodation, as of September 12, the council changed the Procedure within the Social Allocations Policy to allow people more choice.
Now, people who are given a full duty homeless decision can choose where to live - whether that be with family or friends, or in the private rented sector, without losing their eligibility to social housing.
This means that people who are homeless no longer need to live in temporary accommodation in order to qualify for housing.
For those who are still living in temporary accommodation, a dedicated new post has been created to specifically improve the quality and affordability.
Cllr Joanna Midgley, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Preventing homelessness and reducing the number of people in temporary accommodation is a huge priority for us.
"We are in the process of transforming our homelessness services to increase the emphasis on prevention – so that people get help before they reach crisis point – and to provide better options than temporary accommodation.
"We also want to build on and continue the success in reducing numbers sleeping on the streets.
"At the moment almost two thirds of people are already homeless when they present to the Council, by which time options are severely restricted. But if we can help them access support earlier there will be more scope to find options to help them stay in their existing accommodation or find a suitable alternative without having to go into temporary accommodation.
"We are also looking to use creative ways that we can help people who are in temporary accommodation to move on to somewhere more suitable – for instance rental bonds – recognising that this one-off investment will cost less than ongoing temporary accommodation. In addition, we are bolstering support for people moving from temporary to settled accommodation to make sure they can maintain their new homes.
"In the longer term, we are also overseeing the creation of 10,000 affordable homes over the next decade through our Housing Strategy to improve housing choice.
"There is no quick or easy fix, especially against a backdrop of continuing austerity and a cost of living crisis, but we have a clear vision of where we need to get to and how to get there.
"There are also urgent actions we would like to see from the Government to address this challenge – for example increasing Local Housing Allowance, which has fallen below average rents across the city, would make a huge difference. Ending ‘no fault’ section 21 evictions would also be a step forward."
Whilst unable to comment specifically on Kim's case, Cllr Midgley said: "We recognise that B&B-type temporary accommodation is very far from ideal, especially for families, which is why we are working hard to reduce its use as a matter of priority."
A spokesperson for Fallowfield Lodge said: "We have regular inspections of rooms inside the hotel in between guests and we have pest control in place to stop any issues.
"We look after vulnerable people. We can't comment on what issues they might have but a lot of people do turn to alcohol when they find themselves in a difficult position.
"We try to treat everyone the same here. We have regular pest control inspections and they put out boxes and traps. This is the season where problems can arise but we've not had any issues. We just try to look after the people and make sure they are off the streets."
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