(Westminster North) (Lab):...A family with two
blind young adult children attending college were told they simply
had to learn new mobility routes, as they were sent to the other
side of London. These are all recent cases. Someone else told me:
“We were living locally for 19 years, and working in the
hospital. We were evicted from our flat and had to approach
Westminster council for help. We were placed in
an emergency self contained flat that we were told was just for
six weeks, so we couldn’t change our daughter’s school. But
unfortunately its lapsed to 7 months. The transport is too
expensive from West London just to take my daughter to the
school. The cost is £60 weekly which we can’t afford any more—and
the journey is too long—my wife has to leave home at 6AM to reach
the school at 9AM. She find it very hard with little girl who is
just 28 months old.”
...Another constituent came to me after being referred through
the council’s children’s services. Even then—although
Westminster council has now responded to this
and one or two of the other cases—the council took 10 months to
resolve the problem, despite being told:
“The mould is so severe because it was left for a very long time
untreated…I can send you a copy of the EH”
environmental health—
“report and at least 40 pictures to outline the severity of mould
and dampness and how it ate the plastering off the walls. This
mould releases spores into the air which makes everybody inside
this place always in hayfever condition. We have to keep all
windows open for at least 5 hours every day. You could imagine
the cost of heating…as we have a little boy who is autistic and
had a very serious breathing condition and needs medical
attention if he gets a simple cold. It is not only my son getting
constantly ill but our food is mouldy and the clothes inside the
cupboards are mouldy too.”
...Another said:
“I am in a temporary accommodation…by Westminster council placed
in Leyton. I have written to my landlord to tell them that
repairs are needed for three years now. I have allowed a
reasonable time for my landlord to do these repairs, but they
have not done them. I reported these problems to my landlord:
Mould everywhere, walls are wet and the flooring wet everywhere.
My son now has respiratory problems and hard breathing due to the
property state, and is now under the hospital for his respiratory
infection…it’s getting worse day by day. The house is all mould
and suffocating for me and child—it’s life threatening to me and
my son. I have contacted the housing at Westminster, the
receptionist keeps telling me she will send an urgent email and
someone will call me back but not a single person is. Ceiling has
fallen down on me and my 3 years old in the bathroom…The agency
came to try to cover it up and the man working for the agency
when he opened the ceiling roof said this is life-threatening and
it needs to get repaired but the landlord refusing to pay a lot
of money as it costs too much.”
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