A LAST minute offer of temporary accommodation has saved a young mother of two from becoming homeless. But 20-year-old Hannah Prigent fears that she could be in the same position again in a couple of months’ time.

She wants the States to do more to help young families find affordable housing.

‘I know there are other people in a similar situation. I had not got anywhere with the Housing Authority. I phoned them three times in a day recently and they kept telling me to look in the private sector,’ she said.

‘I have looked there and had my name with estate agents, but there was nothing affordable. Everything was £800-£900 a month.’

Miss Prigent, 20, and her two sons, Toby, 19 months, and Morgan, three, had been given until the end of March to move out of a flat in which they had lived for 15 months.

An eviction notice was awarded to the Co-op last November. Miss Prigent was allowed to stay until March but the authority was unable to guarantee that it would be able to rehouse them after that.

She had been unable to find anywhere to live until a family friend stepped in to offer a temporary home until the end of May.

She had been on the authority’s waiting list but had been told there was nowhere suitable for her family.

‘I could easily have found myself and my young family out on the streets,’ said Miss Prigent, whose partner was paying the £442 rent for the flat above the Co-op in Nocq Road.

‘I was really scared. It’s bad when it’s two adults but when it’s two children as well, it’s even worse. It’s been a nightmare,’ she said.

She informed the authority some time ago that she had to be out by 31 March.

Last August, she had to stop working at the Co-op to look after her children full-time when she split up with her former partner. As she no longer worked there, she was told she would have to leave.

She received a letter from the authority, dated 25 March, thanking her for providing confirmation that rent arrears had been cleared, which meant she again met the criteria to be eligible for accommodation.

She had been looking at the possibility of finding temporary housing but she was told she would have to make a fresh application to the authority and wait six months for it to be activated.

But on the eve of having to move out of the flat, the authority said that if confirmation was given that the family could be provided only with temporary accommodation, it was prepared to make an exception and waive the waiting period, thus allowing her to retain her housing priority.