Single dad Frankie Bryant has been sharing a bed in a Kingston hostel with his five-year-old son "for the better part of three years" and has experienced a range of issues within the hostel but has received no help from the council despite reaching out to them numerous times.
In an exclusive interview with Kingston Nub News, he said: "I feel like I have been ignored and neglected because I am a single dad."
During his time living in the hostel, Bryant has seen pigeons flying around the kitchen, which he notified the hostel manager and the council about.
He said: "The pigeons walk along the work surfaces, and poo and fly all around the kitchen."
Upon reporting the issue to his hotel manager, "all he did was clean the windows," Bryant says.
He said: "It's disgusting, it's where I prepare my food."
Bryant reports that there is also mould and damp in his room, causing his son to have time off school due to illnesses.
He said: "My son sleepwalks and has been able to open the door while I am asleep. He has got lost around the hostel and woken the other hostel tenants up, which causes tension between myself and the other tenants."
Bryant says his son has to eat his dinner on the floor in their room as there are not the facilities in the hostel for him to eat at.
He said: My son is unable to sit at a table like a normal child should be able to.
"I feel like my son is being deprived of a childhood as he is unable to even play with his toys due to us having no space.
"My mental health has taken a toll and I am having to take medication from the doctors to help me with my anxiety."
Bryant says he has emailed and phoned Kingston Council on "a number of occasions", and has contacted a number of relevant people, including local MPs, but has had no response.
He said: "I have asked for a housing officer numerous times to try to help me build a case and no one has got back to me.
The Council did, however, send Bryant's Hostel Manager to him on Monday, 23 March, but "all he could do was offer me a single bed and a table and chair but when I asked where it would go he laughed and agreed there is no room," he says.
In light of this, Bryant measured the room, and the "only proposed area in my room optimal for a single bed is a 140cm width a single bed being 90 cm width," he says.
"This would leave me 50 cm of walkway. It's absurd they would even consider that."
A Kingston Council spokesperson said: "We are committed to doing all we can to ensure residents have a safe and comfortable place to live. However, there is an acute shortage of social housing across London and nationwide.
"In Kingston we are providing in the region of 1,000 families and individuals with temporary accommodation, who we have a legal duty to support.
"The cost to the council is significant - in 2023/24 the bill for temporary accommodation was £9.3 million net, and this is forecast to rise again this coming year.
"In this case, we arranged a visit with our resident on Monday afternoon and have established that there is space in the room for an additional bed.
"We have offered to provide this along with a table, but at the moment he has declined this offer.
"We continue to work hard to ensure those in temporary accommodation, particularly families with children, are supported and are made aware of the services available to them, but we recognise it is a very challenging situation to live in."
