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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Liam Thorp

Damp, cold and dangerous - something is rotten in our housing system

If you work in journalism you will come across similar stories from time to time.

One type of story that has come across my desk throughout my decade in the job is about housing. Colleagues and I have spoken to people living in damp, mouldy or squalid conditions - often at their wit's end and desperate for help.

There is something deeply rotten with the housing situation in this country. Britain is one of the richest economies in the world and yet vast numbers of people are living in homes that are simply unfit for human habitation - and something needs to change.

READ MORE: Parents feared 'eating Christmas dinner on floor' after DFS 'lose sofa'

These issues have become even more prevalent during this cost of living crisis, with struggling families unable to pay to hear their homes and facing even more hardship. More and more are coming to newspapers like ours as a last resort, having battled with housing associations for months or even years.

Take Joseph Grady and his family. This week we reported how Joseph, his partner Louise Stockley and their three children Raegan, four, Aurora, two, and JJ, eight months are currently forced to huddle together in the same bed to keep warm.

The family, who live in Anfield, lost the ability to heat their home on Thursday, December 8, after an engineer sent by Your Housing Group said their boiler was unsafe. Joseph said: "My house is like an igloo. Two of the children are already sick with colds and the house isn't helping."

Joseph Grady at home in Anfield with his children Raegen, 3, Aurora, 2 and JJ, 8 months (Liverpool Echo)

This is Britain in 2022.

And what about Jessica Baines from Widnes? She is currently having to keep her windows open in this sub zero conditions because her flat is caked in mould. She had been told by housing provider Halton Housing that the mould she noticed when she moved in two years ago could be easily cleaned.

But two years on and grim images show the situation she is living in now. Mould is now rotting Jessica's skirting boards in her kitchen, along with the window sills in her bedroom and living room. Wallpaper is coming away and the doors are covered in mould; one has even had to be removed.

Jessica says she has between 20 and 30 ongoing repairs logged with her housing provider. She believes the environment is now impacting her health. The 20-year-old was previously a keen bodybuilder but her weight has since dropped from 58kg to 39kg.

She said: "I'm using so much gas an electric to keep warm. But then I need to open the windows. I can't breathe in here at night. I'm waking up every morning with my chest wheezing, I'm always ill."

This is Britain in 2022.

The same Britain where just two years ago a two-year-old boy died after prolonged exposure to mould in the rented house he was living in. Last month an inquest heard that little Awaab Ishak's parents had been reporting issues of mould and damp to their social landlord - Rochdale Boroughwide Housing - for years, the landlord admitted that work to address the issues should have taken place.

The tragic death of a two-year-old boy because of the conditions of his house should be a watershed moment, but still the stories come.

Widnes mum Nicole Dutton was terrified when she read the recent inquest verdict in the case of little Awaab. She and her children have been living with constant damp and mould in their home for months now.

The mouldy flat lived in by 20-year-old Jessica Baines (Liverpool ECHO/Andy Teebay)

She told the ECHO: "There is a leak dripping directly into my five-year-old's room where she sleeps. I was in hospital with her the other day because of her asthma, all the kids have bad chests and colds all the time. There is black mould everywhere and one of the walls is literally coming apart. My hallway carpets are damp all the time. I am putting the heating on all the time just to try and keep the place a bit warm but I can't afford it."

Speaking about the Awaab Ishak news, she added: ""I didn't know about the little boy in Rochdale until I saw it two days ago when my little girl was in hospital. It made me so worried with my kids living in a damp, mouldy house."

And who could blame here for being worried?

Once again, this is Britain in 2022 and something really has to change.

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