Londonderry: Four mothers facing Christmas housing uncertainty

For some of the families in this accommodation, like Ms Mulvenna, it is the second time in weeks that they have faced upheaval.

They found out in October they had to leave a hotel they were being housed in because of the city’s Halloween festivities.

Leonie McLaughlin, a mother-of-three, said that she simply received a phone call and was told her family are to be moved but was not given any details about when.

Ms McLaughlin said she has since been allocated a house, but has been told this will not be ready until the New Year, so she still faces uncertainty over where they will be over Christmas.

“We haven’t even unpacked here, we are still living out of suitcases,” she said.

“We were in a hotel six weeks before we were moved here and myself and my husband were separated for those six weeks into two separate rooms with our children.”

Ms McLaughlin said it was hard to organise daily family routines in their current circumstances.

“I’m constantly being asked by them ‘are we having to move today?’,” she said.

“I think they [the children[] are as anxious as we are.”

One mother, who did not want to be named, said she has two children, aged 9 and 6, and was worried about how any move will affect them.

“I don’t know what to do, it’s all confusion,” she said.

“My two children have just started to get settled here and now, just before Christmas, they keep asking: ‘Are we still going to be here?'”

“They don’t know if Santa will be able to come to the flat here.”

She said she knows deep down that one day they will be able to move into their “forever home” but says now they are having to play a “waiting game”.

“We don’t know if we are going to be moved today, tomorrow, we just don’t know”.