A 7-year-old girl broke down in tears when her teacher asked her to draw a picture of their home because she ‘doesn’t have one’.
Her mother, 43-year-old Emma Sweeney, said she has been struggling to find a home for herself and her daughter since the pandemic started.
She has been working since she returned to the UK after being stranded in Spain. But they are now living in her mother’s sitting room, but there is ‘no room’ for them, according to the Liverpool Echo.
“She’s seven and it’s affecting her emotionally – she’s been tearful at school over the past half term and she’s never been like that before,” Emma said.
“She has nowhere to play – hasn’t even opened her May birthday presents because there’s nowhere for her to play with them.
“She cried at school when asked to do a task of drawing a picture of home, because she ‘doesn’t have one.’
“Her cats that we got for her birthday during lockdown are with my brother and she misses them dreadfully.”
In 2012, Emma moved to Spain where she worked as a singer in a club. But when the pandemic hit, she got trapped and could not return to the UK right away.
“We spent a year with zero income, (my daughter and I) were evicted after seven months, though our landlord was very kind and wiped the debt,” she expressed.
“My work as a music tutor also came to an abrupt halt because of Spain’s strict lockdown.
“We were literally stranded overseas with nothing.”
Emma and her daughter are now staying in her mother’s living room in Wavertree while trying to search for a property to rent.
“Because I’m newly self-employed and receiving Universal Credit and eligible for housing benefit, no agent will touch me with a barge pole.
“I am able to pay rent, I just can’t get past the strict terms of letting agencies. They want two years UK business accounts, which of course, I don’t have.”
Emma said she applied for a council house in July but “very few properties come up in South Liverpool.”
“Weeks can go by and there are only properties in the North End, Widnes, and Wirral. As I’m not driving at present and our family and my daughter’s school are in Wavertree, we need to be within suitable travelling distance.
“We need to stay local now my daughter’s settled in school as the rest of her life has been so chaotic.”
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