I could not accept the available student housing options because I came with family. Most letting agents would immediately cancel viewing appointments once they realise that the primary occupant is a student. I am a migrant student with my spouse and three minor children. The youngest of them is 4 years old. There was this moment when our first temporary accommodation, an Airbnb short let at Kirkstall was about to be fully used up and it was not yet time to move into the next one that we could afford. There were these 3 days gap within which we would have been homeless. The thought of where to keep the children was extremely disturbing for my husband and me. The first house had 4 bedrooms that could sleep 9 people. It had only one bathroom but with an extra toilet. The second short let had 2 bedrooms that could sleep 5 people but with only one bathroom with no extra toilet. We felt appropriate accommodation for our family size should have at least 2 bathrooms with 2 toilets. Most UK houses are well maintained and incredibly old, built during the dispensation that believed one bathroom is sufficient in an entire house as compared with a general or public bath that served an entire community at the time.
From our experience in both houses, we concluded that we could survive in a house with only one bath and with an extra toilet. Looking back, I remember a house that we could have rented before we left Nigeria. We missed a house with 2 bathrooms and the agent graciously offered us another house with one bathroom and an extra toilet, we rejected it. It happened to us, but you should not let this happen to you. Accept it as a short let while you search for another which would become your permanent house.
Each time I look at the photographs from the second short-let accommodation, I recall the moment when we felt most vulnerable. One of my children was down with stomach pain, high body temperature. He had loss of appetite, and his stomach could not even hold the little he could manage to eat. I was greatly concerned but I assured myself in faith that I will not lose any of my children in this struggle to get basic needs sorted out in a first world country. You can register with general practitioners, but you need to have accommodation first. I later understood that we could access some sort of emergency care.