Walking into her Wales & West Housing home for the first time, Nadean Kennedy broke down in tears.

“I cried, but it was happy tears,” she smiles as she talks about the relief she felt when she handed back the keys to the hotel room where she had been living with her seven-year-old son.

For nine years Nadean had happily rented a private home in Penarth, until her landlord broke the news that he wanted to sell the flat she had made her home.

“I was disappointed, because it was our home and he was a good landlord,” Nadean explains.

“It was a bit of a shock when I tried to find another place to rent. I’d been out of the market for so long, I was oblivious to how much rents had shot up. The only places I could find cost more than £1,000 a month. There was no way I could afford that; it would have taken all my wages.”

Turning to the Vale of Glamorgan Council, Nadean and her son Xander were given temporary accommodation in a single room in a hotel “in the middle of nowhere” at the start of 2024.

“I never expected to be made homeless and living with my son in a single hotel room,” Nadean says.

“The hotel was full of other families who were in the same position. We had two single beds in one room, with a microwave and a toaster to make our meals and a couple of communal washing machines and tumble driers to do our washing.

“I had to put all my furniture in storage. It was not good.

“We were further away from Xander’s school and had to walk along busy roads every day.

“Living in the hotel was affecting Xander’s education. The hotel was noisy, and he couldn’t sleep properly, so he was always tired.