Homeless woman’s 19-month stay at Premier Inn as she ‘hits breaking point’

Last year, a homeless woman walked into a hotel expecting just a brief respite. Annette Wilkinson, 50, anticipated a stay of a few weeks, maybe Monday at the most.

After her relationship ended, leaving her with nowhere else to turn, Annette became a fixture at the Premier Inn in Bude, Cornwall, where she has lived for the past 19 months. She moves between rooms about once every two weeks.

Struggling with depression and feeling completely despondent, Annette, who volunteers her time at a charity shop, is now familiar with the hotel. With nothing but a kettle, her meals are limited to sandwiches and fruit salads; she enjoyed only one home-cooked meal during her long tenure.

“It’s really heartbreaking and at the moment I’ve just had enough,” said Annette, reflecting on her move to Cornwall six years ago to be closer to her family. “I can’t cope like this anymore and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”

Adding to her woes, her four rescue cats remain in foster care, their stays repeatedly extended. “The rescue has bent over backwards, but it’s been so long and I can’t keep them forever,” she shared with Devon Live.

Living in a hotel room with the bare necessities, she shares her daily challenges: “I have a kettle and a TV and that’s it. So every day I have to go out and buy something fresh to eat or make myself sandwiches, but I can’t keep the rest because there’s no fridge or anything. I live only on fruit salads and yogurt.

“I can’t remember the last time I cooked. In the 19 months I’ve been here, I’ve had a home-cooked meal once.” That once-in-a-lifetime experience came on New Year’s Day, when a compassionate Premier Inn employee invited her over. at his family home.

She also finds herself frequently moving from room to room in the hotel, moving every two weeks, which inadvertently gave her an extensive tour of the facility. “I’ve had housing officers tell me my case has fallen through the cracks and no one is dealing with it. At one point I tried to call my housing officer for ten weeks and never even got through to him.

“I can call and call the new one I have now and leave messages and they never come back. They made mistakes on my application form which affected my bid for Home Choice (the social housing waiting system in Cornwall). My local connection was missing which affected my bid.”

Caught in a state of uncertainty, she expresses her distress: “I don’t know what to do, I’m so depressed by all this.”

Like others stuck in temporary housing across Cornwall, she faces issues such as no-fault evictions, skyrocketing rents and struggling to get mortgages.

The cost of living crisis has hit the locals hard, with Annette shedding light on the devastation to mental health: “I actually have to throw away most of the ingredients for the food I buy because it doesn’t keep without refrigeration.”

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A spokesman for Cornwall Council sympathized with those facing the housing crisis, saying: “We sympathize with the position some residents find themselves in as Cornwall continues to face extreme pressures on housing availability. We are committed to providing support for any resident experiencing homelessness.

“However, there is a high demand for accommodation, including our own housing stock, properties we rent and other accommodation, particularly when a household requests housing in a particular area. We continue to offer support to everyone living in emergency housing to help them find long-term homes.”

A council representative gave details of the council’s duties and support: “Under homelessness legislation, the Council has a duty to provide temporary accommodation to certain households and we are working with them on a regularly reviewed bespoke Housing Plan which sets out the steps to who must do them. to secure alternative accommodation and the support the Council can provide in this, which may include help to auction properties on Homechoice or a rent advance and deposit to support them in private rented accommodation.”

“Over the last four years, the number of households in need of emergency accommodation has increased by around 240% to 851, while the number of households on our social housing register is now over 20,000.”

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