A SINGLE mum of six children says she has spent five years waiting for a council house big enough to accommodate her family.
The TikTok creator shared a video highlighting the cramped reality of raising her kids in their temporary two-bedroom home in Leeds.
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The influencer, who goes by @the.wisdom.family7 on TikTok, showed her online audience of nearly 60,000 around the tiny house where she has been living while waiting for something bigger.
A television, couch, and bed were all crammed into the same space – a bedroom and living room in one.
The mum made a small bed, wiped down the mirror above her fireplace, folded clothes and placed the piles in a basket, and hoovered and mopped the floor, simultaneously explaining in a voiceover: “Guys, I’m a mum of six, I raised six children on my own.
“I have been on the council list for five years. I live in a two-bedroom house with six children so I’m sleeping downstairs to give those kids my extra room.
“Apparently my house is big enough for the seven of us. Anyone aged under 10 is classed as half a person.
“I’ve got four people under 10 and they are classed as half a person. Anyone under one is not classed as anybody at all.”
The mum said a living room is considered a bedroom in a council home, so by those rules, “I am in a three-bedroom house, even though I’m not, and I have five people living in this house, even though I don’t.
“So, according to regulations, my house is big enough for the seven of us. Imagine. Anyway, I’m cleaning, and hopefully I’ll get a bigger house soon.”
The video attracted more than 800,000 views in two days, as TikTok users flooded to the comment section to share their opinions on her situation.
One person wrote: “I stopped at 2 babies so we could live comfortably. I do hope you can upsize but only so your children have space.”
Another said: “Your videos humble me so much. Been on bidding a year in a 2 bed flat with an autistic child, I see ur vids and think I ent got it that bad xxx.”
Someone else commented: “iv got 2 kids in a 3 bed house and there is noooo way on earth im having any more kids as i no i 1 havent got the room n 2 havent the money to move.”
In defence of the mum, another person wrote: “People saying nasty comments not knowing your situation should be ashamed. you do so well raising your kids alone x.”
It comes amid news thousands of families living in council houses face bumper rent rises worth up to 7.7 per cent from April.
Social rents normally increase by consumer price inflation (in September of the previous year) plus 1.5 percentage points annually.
But the government has applied a seven per cent ceiling on rent cap rises in the next financial year, meaning councils in England will soon be able to raise social housing rents by up to 7.7 per cent.
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