A homeless mother with a disabled daughter and three other children has been allocated to a bedsit house in which she says up to 13 people share a single bathroom. The London borough of Waltham Forest assigned the family two rooms in the private rented house even though it is not licensed as a house of multiple occupation (HMO) and appears to breach its own overcrowding limits. She is being forced to live there because she cannot find anywhere affordable to rent. The mother and her two youngest children occupy one ground floor room and her teenage son and daughter are in an upstairs room. Her youngest daughter has epilepsy, is doubly incontinent and has learning disabilities. There is no space for her to relax other than on her bed and getting her to the toilet is difficult. Getting enough sleep for her youngest son to concentrate at school, never mind finding somewhere quiet for homework, is impossible, she said. He keeps falling asleep in class. Recently a new family moved in and soon there were police in the house. She said the front door was sometimes left wide open and her room was damp. She worries for her teenagers’ safety and privacy, as there have been two single men living in the HMO. She said the house is used by two families placed there by the council as well as four other people who she believes are private renters. The council has apologised “to the families for any problems they have experienced” but admitted: “We simply do not have enough homes to meet the demand.” “There are times I get so depressed I go to a friend’s to shower with my disabled daughter,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. She was allocated the rooms for an emergency 56-day period. The family has now been there for about five months, queueing for the bathroom, which is often filthy, and waking through the night as strangers come and go. The case comes as councils in England spend a record £1.7bn a year on temporary accommodation for homeless families as rising private rents and a shortage of affordable housing fuel a deepening homelessness crisis. The cost for the woman’s two rooms – mostly paid by the taxpayer – is £326 a week. “I’m exhausted,” she told the Guardian, describing how she stays up at night trying to find better private rented accommodation but finds letting agents for suitable homes asking for proof of annual income of £70,000 or savings of £120,000. “If I go to see a property, there are sometimes 15 people queueing to see it,” she said. Relying on benefits and without savings or a large salary she stands little chance. She has looked in the West Midlands too, but it is no better. HMOs with 13 people require at least three bathrooms and three toilets, according to Waltham Forest’s own rules for bedsits. Rooms are not allowed to be used by more than two people and people of the opposite sex aged over the age of 10 should not share a room unless they are a couple. “We are currently providing temporary accommodation for two households while we find more settled accommodation to meet their needs,” said Ahsan Khan, Waltham Forest’s deputy leader. “We had not received complaints regarding doors being left open or damp but have arranged for an officer to visit the property and carry out an urgent inspection. We apologise to the families for any problems they have experienced. “We work hard to ensure that households who approach us at risk of being made homeless have a roof over their heads while we seek a suitable long-term solution for them. We simply do not have enough homes to meet the demand. We know the only way out of this crisis is to build more homes for social rent.”