Carol* did not know there were homeless people in Malta until she and her two young children ended up without a place they could call home.

“Having no home and living under other people’s roofs is very difficult. When you lay your head down to sleep at night, you never know if you’ll be in that same bed the following day,” the 30-year-old mother said.

She has been homeless for three years after falling out with her parents. The single mother of a three- and a six-year-old had applied for housing accommodation four years ago when her parents’ house had part of the roof condemned and a year later she moved in with other relatives.

However, she could not stay with them for long because they too had a family of their own and an elderly friend offered her shelter in her house instead.

Having a place of her own would help her manage her daily routine better and give her peace of mind about the future of her children whom, she said, were keen on school.

“The uncertainty about our future is always looming over my head and not being able to reassure my children is a horrible feeling.

“They keep asking me: ‘Ma, when are we going home?’ I tell them it’s still being built but it breaks my heart knowing that having no home bothers them as well,” she said in a broken voice.

Having no home and living under other people’s roofs is very difficult. When you lay your head down to sleep at night, you never know if you’ll be in that same bed the following day

Carol, who is on social benefits, manages to support her family through careful planning so that the children do not miss out on school activities paid by the parents. She avoids going to the doctor when she is unwell so she can afford the medicine and doctor fees when her children are sick.

“I would love to work and I’ve been looking for a job in the same area around my children’s school because I can only afford travelling by bus or on foot.

“I’ve thought many times about how to manage a schedule where I take my children to school an hour earlier, for the Breakfast Club, and then return in the afternoon to pick them up.

“However, I haven’t found anyone who can offer a daily three-hour job,” Carol said.

She has sought social housing in the whereabouts of her children’s school but fears her plea has fallen on deaf ears.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for the Social Solidarity Ministry assured this newspaper that Carol’s case had not been shelved.

“Along with other similar applications by homeless people requesting housing accommodation in particular locations, it is still in process and under scrutiny,” the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman confirmed that, in 2011, Carol had filed an application with the Housing Authority requesting to be allocated housing accommodation as she was living with someone else and then amended her application to ‘homeless’ in 2012.

The authority carried out a social assessment to establish Carol’s situation last July and a review of the case in December when it transpired that she was only willing to reside in a particular area and the whereabouts.

“Due to this limitation, it was difficult for the authority to locate and offer alternative residence,” the spokeswoman said.

Carol is grateful for the support shown by her relatives and a friend who is putting her up. “Never in a million years did I think I would be homeless. I didn’t think someone could end up on the streets in Malta.

“All I wish for is a place where I can tuck my children in at night and tell them that they’ll be in that same bed tomorrow.”

*Name has been changed to protect the woman’s and her family’s identity.

scarabott@timesofmalta.com