A refugee mum and son who spent a year in temporary accommodation tried to make it fun by reviewing each property. Heather Chisv, who lived in Zimbabwe before seeking asylum in England, said that moving to different temporary properties every week was not easy. She said: “If I was on my own and didn’t have my son, it would be less stressful. “He had to go to school during all that, he was getting quite emotional.” Heather recalls one day when she picked her son up from school, not knowing where they would sleep that night. She said on that occasion, Nottingham City Council had failed to provide her with an email detailing where she would spend the night. Heather explained that despite the various challenges she experienced whilst living in temporary accommodation, she attempted to make the experience positive. “When we would leave each hotel, we would sit down and review each one. “This hotel is three stars, this one is four stars, that made it fun,” she said. She recalls some accommodations as being poor, but described others as “luxury”. On Friday, March 6, Nottingham City Council announced that for 13 consecutive weeks, no homeless family in the city had to stay in emergency hotel accommodation for more than six weeks. The council claimed it had also directed investment from its General Fund to restructure and increase capacity in its statutory homelessness prevention and assessment service. Councillor Jay Hayes, executive member for housing and planning, said: “I’m delighted to see that the plans we implemented to address these issues and reduce the number of households requiring temporary accommodation by increasing our homelessness prevention services, moving people out of temporary accommodation more quickly and increasing the supply of suitable types of temporary accommodation is proving successful.” Heather explained that she struggled to find paid work, something she attributes to her lack of a fixed address. Heather and her son found a home in Sneinton on July 11, 2024, let via Nottingham letting agents Yes Lets. The 48-year-old said her son was overjoyed when he saw his new bedroom for the first time. “When he came home that day, everything was furnished, his bedroom was decorated with Notts County stuff. “I’ll never forget the look on his face, I was proud,” she said. Jenny Brudenell is a director at Yes Lets and said that letting properties at a reduced rent for families in situations like Heather’s is an integral part of the business. She said: “We try and keep our properties as close to local housing allowance rates as possible. “It gives them an opportunity to live, pay bills and allow people like Heather to have a life.” Jenny added that the profit Yes Lets would have made from renting at market value is not as good as seeing the impact of families finding a permanent home.