Family of four who finally move out of a Cornwall Travelodge after six months

  • Watch Charlotte Gay's report

A mother who lived in a Travelodge in for six months with her three children says she is "so relieved" to have finally moved out.

Charlene Pascoe's family lived in the St Austell hotel room four times longer than Cornwall Council's normal limit for emergency accommodation.

It comes as 650 households remain in emergency accommodation amid Cornwall's housing crisis.

Charlene was told they would be there for six to eight weeks at the most: "then it got extended and it got extended. And then before we knew it, we were up to six months."

But three days before hitting the six month mark, Charlene got a call from Ocean Housing to say a newly build family home was available in St Blazey.

She said: "I didn't believe in a million years think we'd get a brand new house, exactly in the right location, it's everything we could have dreamed of."

It has not been an easy year for the Pascoe family. They have been without a home since being evicted from their rental property in January when the landlord decided to move back in.

Charlene's brother Jamie Stephens says the family had been doing the best to support her: "Honestly, the last few months have been genuinely been a nightmare, not just for Charlene, but all of us.

"It was nice to see her cry happy tears for a change. Whereas, like I say, it's been a lot of stress."

Charlene had to make do with the limited amenities in the Travelodge Credit: Charlene Pascoe

Cornwall Council says people being housed in emergency accommodation such as B&Bs and hotels are having to stay there for longer as there is a lack of homes for them to move into.

Cllr Olly Monk, who's in charge of the council's housing portfolio, says he's "frustrated for families."

He says the council is doing all it can to build more homes, but that it takes time: "Until we address that and start building more housing that prioritises local need and we're not going to make a massive dent in the actual amount of people who need accommodation.

"What the government can do is give us powers to ensure that we can get the planning permission to actually build these new housing.

"To have more planning authority to make sure that we can have control over the amount of second homes and try and discourage them - where where necessary - and have the ability to build more affordable homes as well. "