A mum-of-three claimed she was forced to live in a flat with her premature daughter surrounded by "fluffy black mould" and asbestos.
Asheena Davis, 42, from Cricklewood, North West London, said her housing association placed her in the home while her daughter Aniyah-Leigh fought for her life after being born at just 24 weeks.
The mum said her housing association, Network Homes, moved her out from one property, due to fire safety issues, and then into the toxic environment despite knowing her daughter’s respiratory issues.
Her story comes as the Mirror's today launches its End Housing Hell campaign is demanding that social, council and private housing tenants are fined when properties fail to meet minimum standards.
We're also calling for the Decent Homes Standard to be enforced and extended to the private sector, tens of thousands more social homes to be built, better access to legal aid for tenants, inspections to improve and the Local Housing Allowance to be raised to help people with the cost of rent.
Latest figures show there are 3.5 million homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Now, Asheena’s child is seven years old, but she says she's still battling to have the mould removed.
Her plight emerged following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died of respiratory condition caused by mould in a one-bedroom housing association flat in Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Asheena claims that housing associations “don’t care about children” and fears more will die.
Have you been left in a home from hell? Email melissa.sigodo@reachplc.com
Asheena said: “The first six months of her life, she fought to survive. She had a two per cent survival rate, and she had to have open heart surgery.
“At 24 weeks, she only weighed 600 grams. Me and her dad watched our child fight to survive; literally, we watched our child have tubes in her, and have to be resuscitated.
“[My daughter] was on oxygen for a period of time as well. They don’t care and that’s the hurtful thing... they don’t care.
“You feel helpless. You’ve got your child in these conditions, you feel helpless. You feel like you’re letting your child down.
“Obviously my health is important, but I don’t care about my health; I’m not going to let anything happen to my child.”
Asheena said she had to throw away belongings, including her daughter’s toys, after they became covered in mould.
She said: "My daughter had a doll's house. The mould jumped onto the back of it and I had to throw it away.”
As well as having special items destroyed, Asheena said it was difficult to keep the flat ventilated, while simultaneously trying to keep her daughter warm.
She said: “We have to keep her as warm as possible. We’ve got to keep the windows open and the home ventilated. We’re spending extra on gas because we have to keep the windows open.
“If we keep the windows closed, we’re inhaling all the toxins and if we close the windows, we get condensation... so we have no choice.”
When Asheena moved into the property, she claimed that problems began with a wiring fault.
She said: “We had an electrical fire in the kitchen because of faulty wiring in the light. Then we started having mould issues straight after that.
“Mould and cracks and underfloor leaks, and it has just been constant to this day.
“This leak was the whole of our bedroom wall, our passage wall. They were riddled with toxic mould.
“It was black and it was fluffy and furry. I was complaining about the mould and they kept mould-washing it.
“I told them whatever was in the solution, it aggravates me because I got diagnosed with asthma last year. I’ve never smoked in my life.
“I’ve got two pumps, a blue pump and a brown pump. I’m always stuffy and I’ve got all the symptoms of slow mould poisoning.
“I’ve got a bald patch on my hair, my skin is irritated.
“The mould is back in the bathroom, really bad. And I’ve stressed to them about my daughter, my health, [but] they don’t care.
Asheena said she also realised that there was asbestos in the property after discovering a file that was left behind in her home.
But she claimed that when she approached her housing association, it told her there was no trace of the toxic material.
She said: “Last year, when they had to do the work, they were going through the concrete and they said all of a sudden, 'there’s asbestos'.
“They said they can remove the asbestos. ‘You and your family can go to a cafe for the day and then come back to the property'.
“I said to them, ‘you’d have to give me a clean air test certificate'. I refused to go back to the property.
“The issue with the asbestos, that's when I knew 100 per cent that they do not care.
“I've stressed this just as they do about my child, and they don't care. They want to expose you to asbestos and expose you to toxic mould.”
Asheena said she was then stuck in a hotel for six weeks while it obtained the certificate.
During that time, she claimed she was on the waiting list for a surgical appointment, but had to cancel because she couldn't recover while living in a hotel.
She said: “I was supposed to have an operation for a hysterectomy but it had to get cancelled.
“Recovery would have had to be at home because it is a major operation.
“I've been waiting for this operation for so many years, and because of them and their negligence I’m on the waiting list.”
Asheena said she kept a record of all the issues she's faced with Network Homes, in case her health continued to deteriorate.
She said: “I keep everything so if anything happens to me in the future, my family, they have access to everything because I had breathing issues."
Gerry Doherty, Network Homes Executive Director of Customer Services: “ Gerry Doherty, Network Homes Executive Director of Customer Services: “We’re committed to resolving damp and mould issues that are reported by residents.
"In this instance we've been prompt at responding to the issues raised at every stage. Ms Davis accepted this property under our management transfer policy and moved in November 2017 with her family.
"We spent £27,000 on what was an empty property prior to her moving in, which included a new kitchen, bathroom and full redecoration work. There was no reports of damp or mould when they moved in, but we carried out extensive investigative and remedial work over the summer 2021 to address a number of repairs issues.
“As part of the remedial work would involve excavating the hallway and second bedroom, we would not expect a family to continue to live in the home while this took place especially because one of the children has asthma.
"We therefore covered the cost of hotel accommodation for the family while we worked on the property and they stayed there from 5 to 14 August. As part of the remedial work we did carry out an asbestos survey which revealed that the floor tiles adhesive contained asbestos.
"It is considered low risk, but we removed them when we carried out the remedial work. We took an air test in which the results were identified on 13 August which was during the period the family were in the hotel. We provided the results to Ms Davis and confirmed the family were not at risk.
“We were informed on 23 July that Ms Davis needed to have an operation on 5 September, and she requested that the work be brought forward and completed with the family still in the home.
"We confirmed that from a health and safety perspective this wouldn’t be possible. So offered alternative solutions which would have involved completing part of the repairs and mould wash in order to prevent further mould growth or we could have continued the work on the basis of having a trusted family member present while it all took place.
"Ms Davis confirmed that she was happy with this arrangement and with the remaining work completed once she returned from hospital. We were then informed that her operation was going to be pushed back to 29 October and we agreed with her that all the remedial work would be completed by 21 October.
“Ms Davis reported a further damp issue in her bathroom on 26 October. We commissioned a damp specialist to investigate on 10 November and received their report on 18 November. This identified potential causes of the damp including possible rising damp due to elevated ground levels, lack of suitable ventilation and a lack of suitable dampproof coursing and defective drainage.
"We are now in the process of arranging for our contractors to perform the necessary work to help remedy the situation at a time convenient for her. Our investigation also showed the wall cracks were superficial and following resin repair treatment, we have provided vouchers to cover the cost of the redecoration work.
"We’ve also offered to pay the costs towards the flooring in her kitchen. We are still working with Ms Davis to resolve the further issue she has reported. Bathroom work is scheduled for 9 January and Ms Davis has confirmed that she has not allowed us to carry out a mould wash."
"We continue to work working closely with Ms Davis so that we can bring this situation to a satisfactory conclusion.”
Have you been left in a home from hell? Email melissa.sigodo@reachplc.com
