A DESPERATE mother of two considered killing herself because she can no longer cope with her living conditions.

Alison Dunn, 27, lives with her husband, eight-year-old son Shanon and one-year old daughter Christine in a small flat in Hillside hostel, Warminster.

The family all sleep in one room and share a kitchen, living room and bathroom with three other people.

Because the couple are in debt, West Wiltshire Housing Society is refusing to move them into a house.

The young family left South Africa for England in 2000 hoping for a better future but now Mrs Dunn is teetering on the edge of depression.

She said: "We left South Africa because we were scared for our lives. We expected things to be better in England but at the moment it is like living in the developing world.

It is an awful place for my children to live in. I've been so stressed and often thought about killing myself. Sleeping in one room is putting pressure on us all and is affecting my relationship with my husband and children.

"We're always arguing and I hate taking it out on the kids."

On top of coping with her cramped living conditions, Mrs Dunn has to walk eight miles a day to take her son to and from school and tries to protect her family from drug abuse and bullying on her doorstep.

She is also worried about the effect this is having on her husband's health, as he is waiting for major heart surgery.

Because they could no longer afford to pay the rent, the family was forced to move out of their home in Bradford on Avon.

Mrs Dunn said: "My husband was on a low wage and I had to stay at home to look after the children. We didn't have enough money for the rent, food, clothes or bills."

"We told the housing society that we needed a house and in March we moved into temporary accommodation at the hostel. The housing society then decided we had made ourselves homeless and were given 28 days to move out and find our own place."

Mrs Dunn turned to the Citizens Advice Bureau for help and won an appeal to stay in the flat.

Her husband now has a higher paid job but they still cannot afford to pay off their £1,500 debts.

Mrs Dunn said: "Unless we pay off our debts we are not going anywhere. I will fall apart if this continues for much longer. There are other people in this hostel who are stuck in a similar poverty trap."

Ellie Phillips, a spokesman for West Wiltshire Housing Society, said: "We do not give property to anyone with current or recent rent arrears. It is nothing personal it is just our policy and we treat everyone in the same way."