Tenants enlist well being professionals in Peabody mouldy houses struggle | EUROtoday

“We’re treated like peasants. Like we’re not good enough to live in decent homes,” says Lorraine Branch, a tenant on the Nags Head Estate in east London.

She is a part of a bunch of tenants who’ve resorted to enlisting attorneys and well being staff from the charity Medact, to struggle towards Peabody after complaining for years of damp and mildew of their houses.

The tenants mentioned the Bethnal Green property has had long-standing issues which they blame for well being points together with respiratory sicknesses, and declare earlier repairs have solely been a “quick fix” which haven’t resolved them.

Peabody, considered one of England’s largest housing associations, mentioned it had “invested over £1m on improvements” in 2024 however “unfortunately, it will take time to resolve all the issues”.

Lorraine has been residing on the Nags Head Estate for 14 years together with her 4 kids.

She mentioned: “We’ve tried to gather all the tenants, door knocking, handing out leaflets, gatherings just to get people involved.

“We’ve employed attorneys, we have had medical professionals run by a charity to assist us.”

Lorraine showed me a wall of one of the flats which was painted last summer.

The wall was clearly still damp and the paint came off on her hand when she touched it.

“They’re fast fixes,” she said.

“They’re not correctly insulating the partitions. Nothing is getting resolved,” she said.

“In the long run you’d assume they’d put within the cash to repair the issues moderately than maintain coming again, maintain coming again. It’s costing extra money.”

The BBC filmed in another flat with black mould in the hallway, kitchen and on the shower curtains.

The carpet was wet and the flat smelt damp.

The tenant, who did not want to be named, said they had reported the problems to Peabody but claimed it did not act for eight weeks.

After the housing association organised washing the mould off, the problems “shortly returned”, they added.

Fatima Tejani has lived on the estate for 16 years with her family and said her respiratory problems started after she moved in.

“I began to have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]lung issues,” she said.

“I blame the home.

“When you have health problems, you have mental health problems. Peabody has made us sick.”

‘When I’m out I’m high quality, however when I’m inside [the flat] I begin to cough. It’s not regular for me.”

In 2024 her family was moved to temporary housing for three months whilst Peabody conducted repair work.

But when the family returned they found “extra difficulties than earlier than”, including condensation on the windows and damp carpets.

Fatima believes the repairs were cosmetic and said they did not address the root causes of the mould and damp.

“I’m actually frightened concerning the mixture of water and electrical energy,” she added.

“What’s going to occur? If we fall asleep, are we going to get up?”

The housing association provided them with dehumidifiers but her three children, who share a room, said it makes it difficult to sleep.

Her 10-year-old son said: “I’d get up and my face – it wasn’t sweating – however there was water throughout my face.”

The tenants eventually decided they would begin working with professionals at the health justice campaign charity Medact, to push for a solution.

In a survey it carried out in 2024 of 37 households – about a quarter of the social tenants on the estate – 35 said they had visible mould, and 30 households said they had damp in their properties.

The charity said 31 households reported new symptoms or injuries since moving into their properties, and 19 said at least one member had developed a respiratory condition.

Medact said in its opinion, these were “doubtless associated to the widespread mould and damp on the property”.

Medact’s Dr Isobel Braithwaite explained: “We’ve seen actually in depth points with damp, mould, leaks and disrepair and we have additionally seen that persons are reporting actually excessive charges of well being issues, significantly respiratory but additionally affecting psychological well being.

“We think those things are linked.”

Tracy Packer, Peabody’s managing director for north-east London, mentioned it was “an important report” which “reflects survey responses from around a quarter of homes on the estate.”

She mentioned Peabody wished to listen to from all Nags Head residents to “help us shape this investment and agree where the improvements will be made”.

“Last year we invested over £1m on improvements here and I’m committed to designing a £3m plan with residents which I hope will make a positive difference.

“Unfortunately, it is going to take time to resolve all the problems.”

She added wider issues, such as overcrowding, “proceed to be an enormous downside and is a serious a part of London’s housing emergency”, along with “quickly rising prices” which means its social rented homes “value much more to run, than the hire can cowl”.

“This makes it an exceptionally difficult scenario,” she said.

“But we’re doing our greatest and are decided to enhance.”

It comes as landlords for social housing in England will have to fix damp and mouldy properties more quickly from Octoberthe government has announced.

The rules will eventually cover private landlords as well.

Campaigners called for stricter rules after two-year-old Awaab Ishak died because of mould at his Rochdale home in 2020.

Kwajo Tweneboa, a social housing activist said: “Residents attain out to me as a result of they’ve knocked on each different single door they usually’ve been ignored.

“When it comes to fixing these issues and costs, yes – we can talk about building houses, but treating people as human beings with respect costs nothing.

“Yet it’s the greatest subject after we discuss concerning the housing disaster and social housing particularly.”