This Council Housing Has Mould So Severe It Looks Like Fire Damage

A block of council flats in south London that’s lined in thick layers of black mould, suffers from extreme damp and has continuously leaking ceilings have been branded “unlivable” by consultants.

ITV News on Monday uncovered the “harmful squalor” that households dwelling within the Regina Road tower block in South Norwood are compelled to place up with.

The circumstances, in an 11-storey constructing owned by Croydon Council, have been described by the chief govt of housing charity Shelter and the previous head of the Health and Safety Executive because the worst they’ve ever seen. 

ITV NewssITV News has uncovered what consultants name the “worst housing circumstances they’ve ever seen” in a single London tower block.

ITV News

 

Fransoy Hewitt lives on the bottom flooring of the block together with her two younger sons. The flooring of their flat are soaking moist, and black mould has enveloped the kitchen, making it unusable. The fridge has been unplugged for 3 months to to keep away from being electrocuted. The solely undamaged room is the small bed room, the place the household now cooks, eats and sleeps.

Fransoy, who says she first seen damp and mildew 18 months in the past and has contacted the council at the very least 20 instances, says the way in which she has been handled “makes me really feel like I’m not even human”. Because of the mould, she he will get fixed complications and her youngest son struggles to breathe at evening. 

She advised ITV News: “I’m not coping. There is just a lot I can get offended about and pull my hair out – I simply really feel like I’m going to kill myself if I proceed like that.”

 

ITV News

ITV News

Leroy McNally, who lives a flooring above, is confronted with equally distressing circumstances. The mould on his partitions and ceilings is so thick it has the looks of fireplace injury. Despite 4 buckets in his lounge to gather the water dripping from above, the leaks are nonetheless uncontrollable. 

“Every evening I am going to mattress at twelve, and I get up at 6am to empty the buckets,” Leroy advised ITV News.  

Leroy says he’s referred to as Croydon Council at the very least 10 instances since September. Repair groups have been in to have a look at the flat, however repairs haven’t been made.   

ITV News says it spoke to a number of residents within the constructing experiencing the identical issues.

Jeff Charlton, an unbiased environmental hygienist with greater than 30 years expertise, carried out an expert evaluation of Fransoy’s flat.

He advised ITV News: “This is the form of property I might count on to see in a run-down space within the Nineteen Seventies. It’s exhausting to consider that is Britain in 2021.”

Dame Judith Hackitt, former chair of the Health and Safety Executive, who led the federal government’s unbiased inquiry into constructing security following the Grenfell Tower hearth, mentioned: “When I talked to residents within the wake of Grenfell, after I talked to residents in different tower blocks as a part of my evaluate, one of many widespread complaints from residents was ’no one listens to us – we specific our issues and no one acts on it’.

“That, I’m afraid, is typical. That is among the elementary cultural points we’ve received to recover from – the place somebody truly feels accountable and takes accountability for fixing issues.” 

Leaking ceilings, black mould, dangers of electrocution: our investigation discovered what consultants name the worst housing circumstances they’ve ever seen.

No one ought to should dwell like this, however in a tower block run by Croydon Council, folks have been for months pic.twitter.com/8ie5WKGp6Y

— Daniel Hewitt (@DanielHewittITV) March 22, 2021

Polly Neate, chief govt of Shelter, mentioned: “This is de facto dangerous. It’s undoubtedly the worst I’ve seen, simply when it comes to the sheer unlivability of it. I imply, there actually isn’t any doable means, that these properties are match for human habitation.

“Can you even think about having to dwell like that…in lockdown? There’s completely no excuse for it in any respect.”

In a press release, Croydon Council mentioned: “We have been very involved to study of those points at these properties, and the pictures we have now seen present circumstances which can be clearly not acceptable.

“Although we have now fastened leaks and electrical points as just lately as February at these properties and have had no complaints since, issues have clearly received worse for these residents and we’re taking instant motion to place issues proper.

“We are sorry that these residents haven’t had the extent of care for his or her properties that they rightly count on, and we will likely be trying into what has occurred as a matter of urgency.” 

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