Round Lake Beach family remains stuck in motel after pipe burst in apartment on Christmas Eve

ROUND LAKE BEACH, Ill. (CBS) -- A broken pipe displaced a family in north suburban Round Lake Beach on Christmas Eve, and they say they still can't return home.

As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, construction workers and contractors were seen Thursday carrying insulation and drywall into the building where Patricia Chapman and her family live – but not to their unit.

Chapman and her family have been staying in a motel since the pipe burst. And until Thursday, she said she had no word from management about compensation.

"As a mom, it feels – I feel very helpless right now," Chapman said.

Chapman surveyed the damage. The ceiling is ripped out, with wooden joists, fiberglass insulation, and a pipe all exposed. In some spots, even the insulation was gone, leaving a dark, cavernous void open above the ceiling.

"Look at the ceiling. The pipe broke on Christmas Eve," Chapman said. "Right over here, we have our upstairs bathroom up there – and the toilet was leaking."

The pipe ruined Christmas. The family came back to a flood instead of presents under the tree.

"Anything – you could not see anything," Chapman said. "You could hear and feel - squish, squish, squish of the carpet."

The water swept away more than that.

Seven years ago - after the birth of Chapman's now-17-year-old daughter and before her 6- and 1-year-old daughters came along – Chapman was homeless.

"I don't know what's worse, because the hotel brings up a lot of like not having a home to begin with," Chapman said.

Chapman's 6-year-old daughter keeps asking for her dollhouse.

"She wants me to bring her Barbie house to the hotel - and for me, it's very hard to do that," Chapman said.

Chapman does not like the idea.

"Bringing this would mean like we're just going to get settled at the hotel," she said. "I don't want the hotel to look like a home. I don't want it to look like a home."

She says she asked for a hotel voucher to help pay for the stay and was told no. A bill for $500 a week at a motel is more than her monthly rent.

"They just keep telling me to be patient; to wait, and they've got contractors," Chapman said. "They told me last Friday there were contractors coming this week. Nobody's been here."

We reached out to management, who told us 13 units had the same issue. They claim they offered each tenant the option to move into another temporary unit – which Chapman says is not true.

It was not until we asked about a hotel voucher that management considered offering. Because for Chapman – who is paying for the family's hotel time using GoFundMe, the cost is too great to stay another day.

"I'm grateful for today - and tonight we can stay in the hotel – but honestly, like, it's looking like we're coming back here tomorrow," Chapman said.

After Chapman told us Prairie Management and Development would not compensate her, we called them to ask ourselves.

Franza first asked about a rent concession, receiving a reply of, "It's something we can look into."

Franza also asked if the management company would be open to the a hotel voucher, and got a reply of "certainly."