The harsh reality of the housing crisis was highlighted this week by a woman and her four-year-old son with special needs, who have been stuck in a rat-infested B&B in Croydon for the past two months.

Epsom Council moved Jessica Wright, 27, who has lived in Epsom for 10 years, into the B&B in Fairlands Avenue, in Thornton Heath, along with her son Ethan and her partner.

Miss Wright, who suffers from anxiety and depression is the registered carer for her Epsom-based mother who has ME.

She said she has been on the council waiting list for five-and-a-half years and had to move out of their rented home in Epsom because they could no longer afford the rent.

She said Epsom Council should prioritise cases like hers for local housing - because of her and her son’s medical needs, her position as carer to her mum and the squalid conditions in which they are now forced to live.

On Monday, Epsom Council’s social committee approved changes to its housing allocation policy which will give greater priority to those already living in the borough.  

The council’s register will no longer be "open", meaning those living outside of the borough, but wishing to be housed there, cannot be placed above Epsom residents in the list.

This week the council opened a new £1.5m home for eight families needing emergency homes, but it has spent almost £1m in the past year on this type of accommodation for almost 70 families a month - many of them out of borough.

Miss Wright said she has missed doctors’ appointments in Epsom because she cannot afford the petrol to get there.

Ethan has also missed speech therapy lessons.

She said she has been offered a job in Epsom which she cannot accept and is concerned about the potential commute involved when her son starts at an Epsom school in September.

On top of this, Miss Wright said the single room the family lives in is infested with rats and the smell of cannabis smoked by neighbours regularly wafts into their temporary home.

She said: "Epsom Council said they can’t tell me when we’ll be moved. They said we could be here up to a year.

"We are hard-working people. We don’t deserve this.

"My partner opened the cutlery drawer and there was a rat staring back at him.

"There was blood in the drawer from where the rat had stabbed itself with the cutlery.

"This is disgusting, but this is reality.

"I’m not asking for a lot, I’ve never had a lot.

"Does my son have to be bitten by a rat?"

Miss Wright said an Epsom Council employee told her it was aware that there had been a problem with rats in the B&B for the past year.

She said the B&B's private landlord, named only as Ben, had given the family mousetraps and is adamant he had done all he could.

When approached by the Epsom Guardian on Wednesday, he said he had sent pest control to the B&B last Tuesday and Miss Wright’s claims were "bullshit".

An Epsom Council spokesman said Miss Wright had been offered "alternative emergency interim accommodation on two separate occasions" but had turned both down.

He said this is because she has "had enough" and will only move if it means going back to Epsom.

The council spokesman said: "There are simply not sufficient properties in the borough to accommodate the required level of emergency housing.

"Whilst the council is sympathetic to Ms Wright’s situation, almost all households face challenges when provided with emergency interim accommodation.

"All housing is inspected by the council before being offered as emergency interim accommodation and the landlords vetted."

The average number of Epsom and Ewell "households" - families - accommodated in emergency interim accommodation each month in 2014 to 2015 was 67.

The spokesman said this was one of the council’s greatest costs, with it spending more than £1m on such accommodation in the same period.

He said 2,500 families are currently on the housing needs register, with only 120 homes becoming available each year.

Higher priority is given for medical reasons but he said this "has to be balanced with other households who also have medical and other issues".