Politics
Family forced to live in mould-ravaged flat with leaky ceiling and soaking wet floors
A FAMILY are being forced to live in a mould-ravaged flat with leaky ceilings and soaking wet floors.
Residents of the block of flats in Croydon, South London says they feel “not even human” living in what experts say are the “worst conditions they’ve ever seen.”
A family are being forced to live in a mould-ravaged flat with leaky ceilings and soaking wet floors[/caption]
Fransoy Hewitt says she and her two children have been forced to live in just one room[/caption]
Shocking pictures show the rooms covered in floor to ceiling black mould, with water dripping through the roof[/caption]
Shocking pictures show the rooms covered in floor to ceiling black mould, with water dripping through the roof.
Fransoy Hewitt, who lives on the ground floor of the Council-owned block says she and her two children have been forced to live in just one room – despite endlessly contacting the council.
She told ITV News:”I’m not coping. There is only so much I can get angry about and pull my hair out – I just feel like I’m going to kill myself if I continue like that.”
The mum-of two has been forced to plug out their fridge over electrocution fears and says the way they’ve been treated “makes me feel like I am not even human.”
She says the mould is making her family sick and she has to put vapour rub on her youngest son’s chest to help him breathe at night.
The mum-of two has been forced to plug out their fridge over electrocution fears[/caption]
The UK Health and Safety Executive has said the flats were the worst housing conditions she has ever seen[/caption]
Fransoy says the mould is making her family sick[/caption]
Meanwhile Leroy McNally, who lives on the floor above, says he has to have buckets in his sitting room to collect dripping water.
He said: “Every night I go to bed at twelve, and I wake up at 6am to empty the buckets.”
Another man, who wished to remain anonymous , said he has to sleep in a tent in his own home because of the leaks.
Now the former Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive has said the flats were the worst housing conditions she has ever seen.
Dame Judith Hackitt said: “When I talked to residents in the wake of Grenfell, when I talked to residents in other tower blocks as part of my review, one of the common complaints from residents was ‘nobody listens to us – we express our concerns and nobody acts on it.
“That, I’m afraid, is typical. That is one of the fundamental cultural issues we’ve got to get over – where someone actually feels responsible and takes responsibility for fixing things.”
Meanwhile Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: “This is really bad.
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“It’s definitely the worst I’ve seen, just in terms of the sheer unlivability of it.
“I mean, there really isn’t any possible way, that those properties are fit for human habitation.
“Can you even imagine having to live like that… in lockdown? There’s absolutely no excuse for it at all.”
