Marcel and his mum Sarah were moved into a hotel room by Cardiff City Council after they were evicted from their rented flat.

5

5

5

The widowed mother remembered her son asking: “How is Santa going to find me if we are homeless?”

“No kid should ever say that,” she told the BBC.

“He shouldn’t have to worry about Christmas or whether he’s going to get presents or not.”

Marcel, who has learning difficulties, does not understand why he no longer has his own bedroom.

In a clip, Sarah shows the hotel room where they will call home for the time being.

“I am grateful for this room but, obviously, I don’t want to stay here a long time,” she said.

Around the double bed shared by the mother and son, their belongings can be seen piled up the shelves and spread across the small accommodation.

Sarah explained Marcel isn’t able to sleep that much as he wakes up scared many nights due to the noise in the hotel.

“He wakes up saying: ‘I don’t like the dark,’ screaming,” Sarah told the BBC.

“Without routine, he just goes haywire, it’s just meltdown over meltdown and then kicks off and gets angry.”

Sarah and Marcel are waiting for the council to find them somewhere permanent to live after they were evicted when their landlord sold up.

“It gets a little bit lonely with no visitors. And pets are not allowed,” Marcel said. 

The Welsh government declared a “health crisis” due to the number of people living in temporary housing.

Despite having a “good supply” of temporary housing for 1,700 families, Cardiff council claimed it was facing “unprecedented demand,” forcing it to shelter 202 more households in five hotels across the city.

It said it was prioritising moves for those in hotels wherever possible, the BBC reports.

Marcel is unfortunately not alone, as a record total of nearly 4,000 children will be homeless in Ireland this Christmas.

Many are babies who will spend their first Christmas in life without a place they can call home.

Christmas should be a time of carefree fun and creating special memories that will last a lifetime.

Sadly, homeless children will be stuck in emergency accommodation with no proper place to put up a tree, play or even have family and friends over to visit.

It is also incredibly stressful for parents, who can often feel misplaced guilt for finding themselves homeless.

The rise in the cost of living and the war in Ukraine has seen the number of people on the streets rise.

In Gloucestershire, a family were left homeless just before Christmas after being forced to leave and part ways with their pets.

Amy Pearce and her family had to quickly evacuate their home after a landslide struck in November.

A burst water main caused by heavy rainfall left their house in ruins with little hope of it being sorted before Christmas.

The mum said they were woken by a large bang soon followed by a panicked neighbour at their door.

Amy told WalesOnline: “We heard this huge noise [and] the next thing I knew the doorbell went and it was a neighbour saying ‘quick, get out the house, there is a landslide.’

“So we just sort of grabbed the children and left.”

Rooting around the dark, Amy didn’t see the full extent of the damage but claimed it was “awful”.

Overwhelmed, the family have since been living in a B&B while looking for temporary accommodation – but said it isn’t home.

According to Amy, they’ve been told the work will take around 12 to 18 months to complete meaning they might not even be home for next Christmas.

Living with limited items, the family haven’t been able to go back since the disaster.

5

5