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A woman living in a Preston housing association property says the appalling state of her home has left her health at an all time low.
Donna Monkhouse, 37, lives in a Community Gateway Association home at Egan Street near Preston city centre.
But since November 2023 she says she has been attempting to resolve an issues mould, leaking and damp at the property in a process she described as ‘like banging your head against a brick wall’.
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It was only when Blog Preston contacted Community Gateaway Association this morning (21 August) that a viable action plan was put in place despite months of communication, Donna said.
Community Gateway Association told Blog Preston that they apologise to her and her neighbour, who is in her 80s, for the issues with the property. They said they were contacted in December, June and August with issues reported – though Donna said the calls were far more regular than this. They said the most recent fault is ‘highly unusual’ and ‘not something which would normally result in the leaks we are currently seeing in these homes.’
They also said they do not believe there is a mould problem in the property and that their staff have ‘acted with empathy and compassion throughout’. Donna contests the accuracy of both of these points and said that a friend had to remove mould from her flat in June.
Donna, who has a number of physical and mental health conditions – some that are at risk of being worsened by the presence of damp or mould-, said that numerous tradespeople brought in by Community Gateway Association have been unable to do more than express sympathy and temporarily fix issues that would then return very quickly.
She told Blog Preston: “I have made that many calls to CGA and had that many workmen out that I can’t even remember them all.
“Honestly, dealing with them [CGA] has been like banging your head against a brick wall. It’s been in one ear and out the other, with no compassion whatsoever in the people I’ve been speaking with on the phone.
“The lads who have come have been good lads who are appalled at what they are seeing. They tried their best but they are told to temporarily fix issues.”
Images shared with Blog Preston show dripping water across the walls in the property, drenched yellowing walls close to power points and a living room in such a state that Donna is living her life out of her bedroom.
She added: “This affects me so deeply. My mental health is at an all time low. I can’t sit in my living room so I’m living out of my bedroom because of the anxiety this is causing me.
“Physically it’s making my joints very sore because of the constant damp and it’s given me a cough over the last few weeks that I’ve not been able to recover from.”
The CGA website proudly claims that it will deal with emergency repairs and that appointments can be booked from Monday to Saturday. It states that one of its services is “delivering a reliable and good-quality repairs and maintenance service.”
Donna contests this. She said: “CGA couldn’t deliver a newspaper, never mind their promises. It’s an absolute joke. What they say on their website – I’ve never seen so much waffle.”
The CGA has today promised that the next programme of work will resolve the issue, and that work will be carried out to repair any damage inside the property too.
Louise Mattinson, executive director of customers and communities at Community Gateway Association, told Blog Preston: “On each of our visits, we have inspected the property to ensure that there is no mould growth which would present any danger to our tenants’ health, and to confirm that this has not been present. We are mindful, however, of the impact that damp can have, not only on the physical wellbeing of our tenants, but also on their mental health. We have previously offered Ms Monkhouse temporary accommodation whilst we undertake the remedial works to her home, and whilst this was not something Ms Monkhouse previously wished to consider, we are continuing to discuss this with her.
“CGA takes all reports of leaks and possible damp and mould incredibly seriously and the wellbeing of our tenants is our number one priority. It is incredibly unfortunate that despite multiple visits to Ms Monkhouse’s property, it has taken us until recently to identify the unusual root cause of the problem. At every stage throughout this process, we have aimed to resolve the issues as fully, and as quickly, as possible. Our staff have acted with empathy and compassion throughout, understanding the personal impact of this situation on Ms Monkhouse. We feel that our offer to rehouse her whilst our investigations are completed shows how much we care about her housing situation and wellbeing.”
Exposure to mould is proven to trigger respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma that can be fatal – as in the case of two-year-old Awwab Ishak who died after prolonged exposure to mould in his home in Rochdale.
Under new government proposals, dubbed “Awaab’s law”, social housing landlords in England will be forced to repair mouldy properties much more quickly.
Around 2 million people in England live in homes with significant damp or mould issues – amounting to 3-4% of homes in total.
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