A seven-year-old girl whose mother is struggling to find them a suitable housing solution burst into tears when her teacher asked her to draw a picture of a house because she “doesn’t have one.”
A “homeless” 7-year-old girl burst into tears when her teacher asked her for a picture of her home
Mother Emma Sweeney, from Wavertree, Liverpool, said she has been struggling to find a home for herself and her daughter since the pandemic broke out.
Emma, 43, has been working since returning to the UK after being stranded in Spain during Covid-19, but said “no letting agency would touch her with a barge” because of their strict eligibility criteria.
She now lives with her daughter in her mother’s living room, but says there is “no room” for them, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Describing the effect the situation has had on her daughter Maia, she said, “She’s seven and it’s affecting her emotionally; she’s been crying at school for the last term and she’s never been like this before.
“She has nowhere to play, she hasn’t even opened her May birthday presents because she has nowhere to play with them. She cried at school when they asked her to draw a picture of her house, because she doesn’t have one.”
Emma had been a singer in nightclubs in the UK and Spain for years, as well as recording sessions for major labels such as Clubland under her stage name “Emma Diva.”
This meant that a whole season of “lucrative” performance engagements was lost “overnight”.
A stranger on Facebook offered the couple a room in a chalet over the winter, where they stayed for five months until a friend lent them money to return to the UK in March this year.
Emma said, “Because of the extra taxes, we had to leave all our furniture and our car.”
