Families living in shared temporary accommodation in Canterbury say they are staying in a hostel of horrors, prompting council chiefs to apologise for a string of shortcomings.

Angry mums have slammed the city council for making them endure "a life of misery" in their Old Dover Road flats, which they say are worse than prison cells.

Shared by more than a dozen families, the three-storey “hell-hole” has recently been inspected by the local authority, which has since apologised for its poor state.

Frankie Collins, 22, and Amy Pay, 23, who have both been living at the hostel for six months, are on a two-year waiting list for a council house.

But Miss Collins, who lives there with an eight-month-old baby, said: “I was homeless for four years and this isn’t better quality.

“There were problems when I came and since then they have been continuous – the list keeps getting bigger and bigger.

“You would not put chickens here. People in jail are living far better lives than us as they get hot meals, checked on throughout the day, and live in healthy conditions.”

Miss Collins says to make matters worse, her £900 pram has gone mouldy after she stored it in the external shed which came with her flat.

“Our health is being put at a great risk,” she said.

“I have no freezer and no oven. Other people living here don’t even have a fridge that works.

“The security is also terrible as the front and back doors are always unlocked. Drunks come in and use the toilets whenever they like and I have seen blood on doors before and people coming in with needles.

“A few months feels like a lifetime living here – it’s totally unlivable for families.”

Miss Pay, who lives with her partner, a three-year-old and an 11-month-old baby, added: “Our windows now have restrictions on for safety reasons but it means they are basically locked at all times. We have no key to open them so it’s like a sauna even in January.

“It’s not good for my mental health – I struggle with anxiety and now I’m physically locked in as I can’t open my windows.

“My child has night terrors because of what he can hear out the back, so much so that he begs to stay with his grandparents.

“There is no smoke alarm in my room and another alarm on the third floor is torn from the wall. We also have no fire extinguishers or fire blankets anywhere in the hostel.”

One of Miss Pay’s flat windows has been left smashed for weeks but she has been left without a replacement.

“It’s a disaster. We’re afraid of turning on the lights because wires have been left out in the open,” Miss Pay added.

“At one time, water was gushing down through all of the electrics.

“We are on a high priority list to leave here but have been told that we’re on a two-year waiting list. That is not temporary – it’s basically permanent.

“We have to accept this is where we are but there is a certain standard of living the council has to be providing.

“On a scale of one to 10 for poor standard of living – this building is undoubtedly a 10.”

Another resident at the temporary accommodation, Precious Broombridge, 18, says her flat floor could cave in at any time.

“I have a six-week-old and a one-year-old,” she said.

“I’m afraid that our floor is going to collapse and we’ll fall into the kitchen below.”