A woman and her young family are being forced to live in a property with water running down the walls, rooms riddled with damp, black mould and slugs climbing the walls after being placed in what she says is “completely unsuitable” council accommodation. Gemma (who we have changed her name due to safety concerns) says she is worried about the health and safety of her children after being placed in the home in the east of Cardiff.
The damp and mould is so bad in the property that a Consultant Neonatologist at Cardiff and Vale Health Board has previously written to the council asking for the family’s home to be reviewed after she became concerned that it was contributing to the ill health of one of the children.
Gemma’s two-year-old daughter required treatment in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff in February after suffering seizures which was determined to be as as a result of a viral illness. The consultant told the council that she was “concerned her current living conditions are unfavourable and present a risk to her ongoing health and development”, aided by the fact the baby was also born seven weeks premature.
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The family have been left with water running down the walls and damp and mould -Credit:WalesOnline
The mother-of-seven says that she has constantly raised concerns with the council since she was assigned the property in January 2023 but that very little work has been done to resolve them. She says that as a result, several children are now sharing a bedroom with her, the family don’t feel safe to use some of the bedrooms in the house and that she is “embarrassed” to let anybody see the property.
As well as the damp in the property, Gemma says that fact that the house is on a busy main road, the fact that they do not feel safe opening their windows due to a break in and it’s location meaning the garden is unusable makes the property “completely unsuitable” for the young family.
She said: “I got offered the property in January 2023, they [Cardiff Council] said there was certain work that needed to be done etc. It wasn’t the council doing the work at the time it was the contractors. I was coming down on the bus to see what was being done as it was taking a long time to be done, nobody was there.
The mother says she is worried for her children’s health due to the damp and mould in the propety
“I moved in in May, that’s how long they were there and basically nothing got done. All that got done really was terrible wallpaper to cover basically the state of the walls. A week after I moved in it rained and the living room wall just started getting soaking wet as well as the downstairs bedroom. It’s gone everywhere, every bedroom has got mould in there.”
She said that the damp and mould has gotten so bad in the bedrooms that she can no longer use some wardrobes and instead has to fold clothes in piles on the floor. Due to slugs entering the property she is forced to wash these constantly. She says that her children’s school attendance has dropped significantly since living in the house as they are “constantly getting coughs and colds.” She says that despite “phoning the council every day” little work to rectify the issues in the property have been completed.
“It’s getting to the point now where my baby, my two year old, she has complications. She was born seven weeks premature and she’s got a lot of health issues anyway, one being like she’s really, really prone to infection. Earlier in the year she got so unwell she had a really bad seizure, we thought we were going to lose her.
The family say the property is full of black mould and damp in each of the rooms
“They [doctors] did all the tests and said it’s nothing neurological, they said it’s where she’s so prone to infection and all the mould in the house, it’s causing her to get a temperature and then go into seizures. She’s had another seizure and thankfully she wasn’t do bad but I’m worried she could have another.
“I’ve told the council about everything, they’ve got all of the letters from my doctors. Even from my Daughter’s Paediatrician saying about the house and how it’s affecting her. It’s going to get to the point for my daughter gets seriously ill or worse before something happens.”
Gemma, who has seven children under 16, with the youngest two-years-old, says some of their school attendance has dropped to 60% this year due to illness she believes stems from the damp in the home, and worries this will get worse as the winter draws in.
She says her children have told her they are “embarrassed” to ask any friends back to the house and a break in during the summer through a ground floor window which led into one of the children’s bedrooms have made them feel unsafe.
One of the children’s consultant has sent a letter to Cardiff Council
“Because of where we are we had someone break in through the front window and my daughter has her bedroom in the front of the house. My children were too scared to stay here for a long time. Because of that, I have three sleeping with me, my two daughters are together, my son’s say they’re hard as nails and stay on their own but otherwise we’re all together.
“When the man climbed through my daughter’s window it was the middle of summer, we’ve got every right to keep our windows open. When I phoned the council they told me I have to close my windows. One the house is full of mould so we need to keep the windows open, two we shouldn’t have to close our windows.
“It’s the worst place anywhere can put a young family. Even when people have come out to do work on the property they’ve said ‘this isn’t suitable for long term accommodation for a young family’, it should be a temporary house because the problems are just going to keep getting worse because it’s an old house.
As well as damp, the mother says she is worried about slugs entering the property
“It shouldn’t be somewhere for full time for family living. The children can’t play out the garden because of the rats from the food place, they can’t play out the front because of the main road, they are literally just stuck in this house with mould which is making them ill all the time. With the winter it’s just making them worse.”
Gemma says it’s also having an affect on her, “It’s making me ill too but I have to just keep going to look after them. There’s nowhere where I can just put my feet because of the slugs. The baby has tried putting slugs in her mouth, I’m constantly on watch 24/7. It keeps getting worse, it’s not getting any better at all. It’s costing me a fortune, I’m constantly washing clothes.”
She says that she was allocated the house because of its size, but would take a smaller house if it meant her children didn’t have to live in such conditions. “These houses are massive, they’re huge, I’d never get a house this big, but I just want a house where my children are safe. I’d happily take a one bedroom flat, I’d take anything over this.”
She says that the council are aware of her issues with the property but says she has been told it is a “waiting game” until she can be allocated another. “They keep saying that It’s a waiting game but I’m saying they need to put me in temporary accommodation or something because this is affecting my children’s health. I constantly wake up wondering when the baby gets ill, is she going to make it through this one.
“It shouldn’t be somewhere for full time for family living. It’s going to get to the point for my daughter gets seriously ill or worse before something happens.”
A council spokesperson said: “We take reports of damp and mould in our council homes very seriously and have created a dedicated in-house damp and mould repairs team to supplement all our other maintenance teams.
“We understand tenants’ concerns and strive to respond swiftly when our repairs team receives a report. Unfortunately, we have recently been unable to access this property to conduct a damp inspection, and access for our contractor to perform several planned works has been refused. As soon as access is granted we will complete the required works which will include:
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installing new double glazing where needed;
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applying mould treatment to rooms;
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improving ventilation, and repainting or wallpapering treated walls throughout the house.
“In response to reports of pests, pest control carried out a course of treatment over the summer, and further treatments can be arranged if necessary. Our teams will also inspect the property, when allowed access, to seal any entry points.
“In the longer term, the family is on the city’s housing list in a high priority band, awaiting an offer for a larger property that better suits their needs.
“However, due to the high demand for council housing amid the current housing emergency, this may take some time as it depends on a suitable property becoming available in one of their preferred areas.
“We recognize the difficulties the housing emergency causes for families and are constantly exploring options to increase the availability of affordable homes in the city, including larger family homes. This includes building new council housing and purchasing large-scale apartment buildings to deliver more affordable homes and council housing as quickly as we can.”