Published: 06/03/2010 09:00 -
Updated: 05/03/2010 13:40
A MOTHER-of-four claims her family’s health is being put at risk by the refusal of housing chiefs to move them out of their “dangerously dilapidated” council home.
Katherine Douyere (29), who has been living in the cramped two-bed house in Little Brays for the past eight years, said an escalating mould problem has left her children’s bedroom a serious health hazard and too dangerous to sleep in.
“It is vile the way we have to live,” she said. “The house is dangerously dilapidated, covered in mould and literally falling apart. Last year the ceiling collapsed and missed my son by inches.
“There are six people living here in a two bedroom house and there’s not enough room to swing a cat. It is very crowded.”
Ms Douyere said she had contacted Harlow Council on numerous occasions to complain about the state of the property but claimed it was not willing to find her family a new home.
“They just sent round a team to carry out repairs but all that did was hide the mould problem for a while. Now it’s come back with a vengeance,” she said.
An inspection of the house was carried out in January this year by the council’s own senior environmental health officer who reported that the property was “not reasonably suitable for its current occupation” and recommended the family was given priority for suitable alternative accommodation.
Yet Ms Douyere is still waiting for the council to act on the recommendation and said she feared her children’s health was deteriorating every day the family remains at the house.
“My daughter has had health problems since she was born and has been put on antibiotics about seven or eight times already, while my middle son has got asthma that has recently got much worse,” she said. “We can’t put up with this for much longer.”
Councillor Lee Dangerfield, chairman of the council’s housing committee, said work to remove mould from Mrs Douyere’s property was due to start on Thursday.
“An inspection by the council's environmental health officer was undertaken and provided advice on the way of best addressing the problem,” he said. “A programme of work to address the damp had been planned to take place by Kier Harlow prior to the tenant contacting the Star."
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