Need feral tame quickly

So in January I brought home a feral cat, Astrid, from my workplace. My intention this entire time has been to give her all the time she needs to get used to being a house cat. But the situation has changed - I currently live at home and have been using my sister's old room as Astrid's safe room. But now my sister might need her room again in a couple months and I need to move Astrid out.

Just moving her to my room isn't an ideal option. I don't think it will be possible to cat proof my room. (I have a lot stored in there that I can't move out and lots of fish tanks that I can't easily cat proof as they stand.) I'd probably need a storage unit and to spend a bunch of money on good tank covers to make that possible. I am also very allergic to cats. I'm getting shots and take regular medicine for it, but if I sleep with them I will be sick, which for me means flu like symptoms including a day of vomiting.

So if I absolutely had to, I think my best option moving Astrid to my room would be to find the hugest cage I can and have her live in there until we made better progress. Which I would feel terrible about, after letting her have a whole room of space to herself.

I had tried sleeping in my sister's room with Astrid on my days off, and that went well, so I got to a point that I was sleeping in there every night. And we made great progress! I had gotten into the habit of surfing on my phone in bed right before I fell asleep, and she would come out and move around with me awake as long as I was still and quiet. I also started to hear her move around a lot any time I was in there to feed and take care of her, always out of sight, but I think she was watching. I was pretty confident that it wouldn't be long before she started coming out of hiding while I was in there.
But then, with all the allergens building up in there, because I think running a vaccuum in there would be much too traumatic for a cat that is already very skittish, I got very very sick. For a couple of days my mom had to go in and take care of Astrid for me because I couldn't stand without throwing up, and I've had to completely stop sleeping in there. After that, all progress has been lost and we're back to square one.

A huge part of the problem is that my sister's room isn't really cat proofed either. She also has a lot stored in there, which makes plenty of places to hide. We had to try to cat proof after Astrid went in, because I didn't get to bring her home on my terms. I wanted to bond with her before I brought her home, ideally get to a point that I could pet her and then just snatch her up and drop her in a kennel, but my bosses decided she had to go and trapped her before I got very far. She knew me from work, but still only let me get so close. So we weren't exactly ready for her and she ended up getting through to the areas we tried to block off.

Another issue is that we've started noticing strange cats frequenting our back yard and fence, which Astrid's window looks out on. It has to be stressful to be worrying about strange cats in the back yard and then hearing noisy cats on the other side of the door to the house as well - she's surrounded. We can't just shut the blinds because she climbs them, so they have to be all the way up and out of reach. We're looking at addressing that in a way that will keep out the cats, but won't disturb our dog who enjoys spending time in "her" backyard. Right now we're thinking about trying citrus juice near the window and along the fence? But in the mean time, who knows how much the cats are interacting through the window and how much that's stressing Astrid out.

So this situation in general is pretty far from where I'd like it to be, but now I have a deadline and need to figure SOMETHING out. I will not give up on Astrid, and I don't believe in outdoor cats, so I certainly will not just make her an outdoor cat. My family has two other cats and a dog, so I can't just open the bedroom door and hope she does better out in the rest of the house, where she's forced to deal with people around her all the time. It will be about a year before I can move out and bring her to a place where she can be an only cat for awhile and give her the time and space she needs.

I'm really at a loss. Does anyone know anything I could do to make this faster or easier, or have any ideas of alternative solutions? I've tried tempting her with food, but she's very picky and not very food motivated. She is very much into her toys, but is never where she can see me so never has a chance to take any interest in the interactive toys I try to tempt her with.

My previous threads on Astrid:
"Stressing about feral brought inside"
"Hard time getting cat to eat - options? (newly indoor feral)"

Is there a way you can set up two crates - attached to one another?  That will give her a little more room.  They also have tall crates which give the cats a higher perch than being on the ground.

The crate idea may work out for the best, anyway, as she would be unable to hide from you.  You can sit and read to her and being physically closer may speed up the socializing.  She sounds like she may never be a lap cat, which is fine (two of ours are like that).

You are very kind to go through all of this for her.  Many people would have given up by now.  Thank you!

When I took my Simon in he appeared to be 2 years old and seemed somewhat housebroken. However I lived in an attic - not cat proofed. During the day I let him in the rest of the house but at night he got crated. I bought him a large dog soft covered crate that he eventually learned to love. He had his own little house and once he got used to sleeping in there he'd go in during the day on his own for naps.

Try crating her for shorter periods of time at first and offer her treats in her crate so she feels safe and fed.

She will come out and get used to you in her own time. Don't rush her but do take precautions to make her feel safe especially with the strays coming to visit.

I have a comment, re your allergy.  You cant vacuum because, and you have lotsa of gears there.  Thus, it must be very dusty...  No good for allergics.

If you cant do no vacuum, you can instead use a damp cloth to take away the dust with.    This you can btw do on her too, to "dry off"  her fur with a somewhat wetted small towel.    I hope you understand what I mean, my english isnt the best around.

  Also, an air cleaner with a Hepa filer, or a Micro filter, is very useful.  The cleaner going on the whole time.

Re quick socializing.  There is a trick useful for kittens, but I do think it may be tried with adult cats too.   Works a little as broking in horses, but much much more gentle and nice.   With horses you learn them resistance is futile, with cats you learn them their fear is not necessary.

Ok, you wrap the cat in a towel or small blanket, legs body up to the chin, as a burrito.  Wrapped up this way, they usually cease resistance.   If necessary, you can also cover their eyes (as is done with birds of prey when they are trained).

You carry the cat at your chest, so she hears your heart and feels your body warmth.   And you talk friendly and softly, you make friendly small noises, you sing softly if you can and want...

And carry them a good while.  Even a full hour perhaps.    After a couple of such sessions it should be done....

If you dont want to try this,

you didnt mentioned this if you talk with her, etc...  This is quite potent cat language.  Moms do it with their kittens.  Friendly toms courting also do use lotsa of soft sounds.  You could never imagine there may be som many sounds in a cat body!    I know, we had friendly studs as our residents...

Also, the body language; dont look in the eyes, if you do, just a short second, and look aside.

Later on, blink slowly....

Yawn a lot.  Standing on all four, strech forward and backward.   These arent  tired, sleepy lazy cat - but its friendly greetings among cat pals.

@Narelle

The swaddling like a burrito is a really good idea. Ferals need a person to connect to, u r her person so get to cuddling!