A HOMELESS family is being forced to live in a room at a Premier Inn – because the council has nowhere else to house them.

Agnieszka Bartczak, her partner Piotr Debacz and her three small children aged two, three and five, were told by their landlord to move out of their private rented accommodation in Thongsley, Huntingdon on October 2.

They appealed to Huntingdonshire District Council for help and were put up in the hotel in Eaton Socon off the A1, at the Colmworth Business Park, Marlborough Road.

Even though the move was supposed to be temporary while the family found a permanent place to live, Miss Bartczak and her family are continuing to live at the Premier Inn seven weeks later.

“They told us we need to find somewhere to stay the night and we have been here ever since,” the 22-year-old said.

“There are five people in one room and there just isn’t enough space. We are in desperate need of somewhere else to stay.”

Jon Collen, housing needs and resource manager for HDC, said: “Homelessness is increasing and we are placing more families into temporary accommodation.”

He said Miss Bartczak, who last year was subject to a violent attack by her ex-partner where he stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and stomach, could be moved into more suitable temporary accommodation at any time.

However, that would depend on the number of families facing crisis situations, Mr Collen said.

In the meantime, he encouraged the family to keep actively bidding for social housing but said if their attempts were not successful as soon as they had hoped that they are “still able to go and find private rental accommodation”.