A 30-year-old Pembrokeshire Army veteran has spoken of his anguish after a three-year fight to find a home for himself and his three young children has reached stalemate.

“My mind is flooded,” said Karl (not his real name), a former soldier with the Royal Welsh.

“I’ve served my country and here I am, with three children, and I can’t give them a fixed address.”

Since leaving the Army with PTSD, Karl has spent the past three years living out of boxes at either his mother’s or his sister’s homes or in his car.

Earlier this year he was offered a council property in Pennar, however the conditions which he and his children are now being subjected to are making their lives unbearable.

“My children are waking up with nightmares every night,” he said.

“The property has a rat infestation in the walls and this is naturally terrifying my boys, who are aged nine and six. And when they go outside, mixed race slurs get chucked at them as I’m Jamaican.

"Both my children have been physically attacked and one of them has had all his Pokémon cards stolen, which were once mine when I was a child.

"The other one saved his birthday money to buy a scooter and when he went outside, it was stolen from him.

“They’ve been threatened by a 2x2, with nails sticking out of it, and we regularly see people smoking heroin in the alleyway behind the house.

“All this is having a knock-on effect on my children as they don’t feel safe inside the house because of the rats, nor outside.”

Karl claims he has made repeated attempts to find out whether he is entitled to a three-bedroomed property, but is still awaiting a response from the local authority.

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“It’s got to the point where I’ve lost all hope and now I’ve stopped bidding. I spent 18 months bidding for a three-bedroom property but I was consistently being told that I wasn’t being considered.

"I just want to find out what I’m entitled to, but despite the fact that I keep asking them, I’m not getting any answers. I’ve begged and begged the council for help but I’m getting nothing.”

Latest figures released by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation confirm that Pembrokeshire’s towns are currently in the top 20 per cent of the most deprived areas of Wales. Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven are both listed in the top 10 per cent.

Meanwhile Pembrokeshire County Council Cllr Michelle Bateman, the cabinet member for housing operations, has confirmed that the demands on the county's social housing are 'extremely high'.

"The shortage of affordable private accommodation plus the demands on our social housing stock are leading to longer waiting times for accommodation, as well as significant shortages of suitable accommodation in people’s areas of choice to live," she said.

She added that the authority currently operates a needs-led register where applicants are prioritised into gold, silver or bronze categories, according to their circumstances.

But with an increased demand to provide urgent temporary housing following changes to Welsh Government policy, the authority is now using its own stock as well as B&B and other private hostel arrangements to help tackle the housing shortage.

“The council continues to proactively acquire properties, including ex-council ‘buy backs’ to add to its housing stock by using its own as well as Welsh Government funding, which has been allocated to the Council in recognition of the housing pressures we currently face," she said. 

“Each property we acquire is another home for people and families on the Pembrokeshire housing register and I know this makes such a positive impact on their lives.”