‘It’s cold, it’s mouldy, we’re ill non-stop’: the UK families living in fear of winter
Last winter Ayaat, four, was “severely ill, coughing all night”, as damp afflicted her family’s temporary council home in Dagenham, east London.
As mould spread, her sisters, Ayesha, six, and Anisa, seven, were sick too, and were regularly prescribed antibiotics. Their mother, Alifjane Begum, 27, has a cupboard full of Calpol but it doesn’t help much. Now she lives in fear of the coming winter knowing her finances won’t stretch to keeping the heating on to keep condensation at bay.
“When we took [Ayaat] to the hospital they said it was because of mould,” she said. “We are worried that when winter comes we’re going to get even more ill. There is only so much a body can take. The GP said if you keep getting ill it will get to the point where your organs and respiratory system become weak.”
“A home should be where your children feel safe and secure and happy,” she added. “They don’t. It’s cold, it’s mouldy and we’ve been ill non-stop since coming here. The children were never on antibiotics before we came here. Now the school complains that they’re missing too many days off sick.”
Their home is in a new prefabricated complex built with metal boxes that resemble shipping containers. It was not meant for long-term occupation but to help homeless families.
A spokesperson for the London borough of Barking and Dagenham said: “Our homeless team have worked with residents, including providing utility vouchers and dehumidifiers as well as education around heating and ventilation.”
The family is just one of millions in substandard properties vulnerable to cold and damp.
Emma Faulkner, 26, a paralegal who lives in a single-glazed, oil-heated Victorian terrace house in Belfast with a leaking roof and mould on the windows, said: “Last year my
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