A pregnant woman says she fears for her unborn child after being forced to live for four years in a "mouldy cesspit" due to dampness in her flat.
Natea May-Griffiths, 23, claims she has had to throw out a bed and a sofa and often wakes up with a headache and a cough at her £400-a-month property.
The fed-up Worcester resident she has been complaining to the housing association since she arrived in 2018.
Her filthy flat has been covered in mould since a leak in her ceiling while she also claims there are a string of other problems such as faulty wiring.
Natea has accused Platform Housing of refusing to help and said they even told her to drive to her mum's house if she wanted a shower when her bathroom leaked.
Natea, who has previously suffered three miscarriages, now fears for the health of her first baby living in conditions "like a crack den" when they are born.
The mum-to-be says she can't put her heating on without the smell of mould overpowering the property and she often wakes up with a headache and a cough.
Last year she had a hole in her bathroom due to the water damage and has previously had to rip up mouldy carpet and throw out a mouldy sofa and bed.
She has been too ashamed to invite any family or friends around and says she would rather be homeless than bring a baby up in her property in Worcester.
Natea, who is 16-weeks-pregnant, said: “It's like living in a crack den. I pay money each week for a mouldy cesspit. I like my place to be nice and clean but it’s never nice and clean. No matter how much I clean it, I still feel dirty and ashamed.
"You don't come out of the shower feeling clean, I have to eat and sleep with mould everywhere. At one point I had to chuck my sofa out as it was covered in mould, rip my mouldy carpet up and chucked my bed out and slept on my mattress for two years.
"Your home shouldn’t be like that. Your home should be somewhere you feel safe and confident and have people come around. I hate people coming around, I'm ashamed of the place, I won’t have my family around.
“I started with a leak in my bathroom floor. The overflow pipes were too big and overflowing with water. They came out and bodged that. It's been leaking since I moved in, no one would believe me, they said it was just water leaking over when I was having a shower.
"I've got mould growing in my hallway, behind radiators, they told me to clean it myself. Being pregnant I don’t want to be touching chemicals or the mould. If I put my heating on it smells like mould. It smells like stagnant wee, that’s how I describe it.”
Natea, who is unemployed, says she can’t afford to move out but has pleaded with her housing officer to let her leave for a new property.
She added: "I've been complaining for four years and they’ve never got back to me. I've told them that I'm pregnant and that I’m high risk category due to the number of miscarriage's that I’ve had.
"I call this baby the rainbow baby because there is always a rainbow after the storm. I just don’t want to live in a property with mould in with a baby.
"I also don’t want to be here while I'm pregnant. I can’t afford private housing as it’s too expensive. I've said to the council they just need to move me out and just rip the place apart and have a look.
“When I had a leak in my bathroom they said turn the water off and don’t have a shower. They wanted me to go around my mums and have a shower - but she's a 10 or 20 minute drive away depending on the traffic. It does get cold in the flat but as soon as I turn my heating on it stinks.
"I frequently wake up with headaches and a cough and that could be down to mould. All my floorboards are bowing upwards so when I open my oven hot food falls out. I've got loose wires hanging out of my wall for my fire alarm. Those wires are live and I don’t want my two dogs to catch them.
"It's four years that I've been stressing myself out about it because I do want people to come around and see my home and the baby. Before my baby is born I just want the flat sorted or I want them to help me move somewhere safer.
"I would rather be homeless than have my baby in that flat and that is saying something."
Steve Summerfield, external contracts manager at Platform Housing Group, said: "We are sorry to hear our customer's concerns. We are undertaking a survey this week and in touch with the customer."
