***EMBARGOED UNTIL 3.00PM GMT*** Luke and Olga Burns, with their children Lolita (brown hair), 11, Alina, 10, and Nicolas, 11 months. The family have been forced to live in hotels for nearly three years after the council failed to find them a house. See SWNS story SWHOTEL; A council has been ordered to rescue a homeless family-of-five after leaving them "trapped" living in a hotel for THREE YEARS - at a staggering cost of £88,000. The Burns moved into a hotel when they were turfed out their flood damaged private rental flat in 2014 and thought they would be there for a week. But two authorities spent months arguing over who should look after them before they were declared "intentionally homeless" - putting an end to any council help. Since April 2014 Luke Burns and his wife Olga - both qualified teachers - have been forced to limp from handout to handout to keep a roof over their heads.
A council has been ordered to rescue a homeless family-of-five after leaving them “trapped” living in a hotel for THREE YEARS – at a staggering cost of £88,000. The Burns moved into a hotel when they were turfed out their flood damaged private rental flat in 2014 and thought they would be there for a week.
But two authorities spent months arguing over who should look after them before they were declared “intentionally homeless” – putting an end to any council help. Since April 2014 Luke Burns and his wife Olga – both qualified teachers – have been forced to limp from handout to handout to keep a roof over their heads.
Luke said: ‘We are trapped. We can’t afford to move out – it costs a fortune to privately rent – but the council won’t help us.
‘People ask how we got into this situation and the answer really is when you are labelled ‘intentionally homeless’ there is no help.
‘It would be a dream to provide for our family with a roof over our heads.’
Olga added: ‘It doesn’t feel like real life. It feels like a bad dream that I am about to wake up from, and every day I hope I will, but it doesn’t happen.
‘At first we tried to make light of it for the children – pretend it was an adventure – but they know this isn’t how we want to live.
‘This situation has robbed us of years of our lives. We have forgotten what the comfort of home feels like.’
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