Sadie Stewart

A WOMAN who arrived in Islington after fleeing domestic abuse says she has been suffering with nosebleeds and vomiting from the “nightmare” mould in her council flat.

Sadie Stewart, who has lived on Highbury Hill with her 19-year-old autistic son since 2019, said the mould and damp, which she has been complaining about for more than three years, had been making them sick.

“I’ve been living like this, I’ve been getting ill, vomiting, collapsing, going blind… it’s from the mould.”

She added: “My son has got out of the bath, and his nose is full with blood, and he’s collapsed so many times.”

Ms Stewart said a repair team was previously sent in to paint over the wall in 2021, but the mould quickly reappeared. She tried to put cupboards as barriers against the wall so the spores did not “choke up” her and her son.

“They covered it over with paint. They didn’t do the proper thing. That’s why we’re all getting ill, collapsing, we’ve not been able to live like normal. It’s been a constant thing”, she said.

Black mould in the home of Ms Stewart

Ms Stewart said she has tried to get in touch with the council but has never been given a “proper response” to her concerns.

She added: “It’s shocking because you can’t move forward with your life, it’s impossible to move on forward. My home is uninhabitable but they have not offered me anywhere. They’ve offered me nothing. Nothing at all.”

Ms Stewart added that the council were now claiming that they could not fix her mould because she was in rent arrears.

She told the Tribune: “They’re saying that I owe £6,000 and I can’t work out how I owe that. Does this place look liveable? This not liveable, this is not habitable.”

A spokesperson for Islington Council said: “We’re committed to providing safe, decent homes and tackling all cases of damp, mould and disrepair.

“We sympathise with Ms Stewart for the issues that she has been having at her property, and are committed to resolving these for her.

“Last year, we completed mould repairs on Ms Stewart’s hall, bedroom, and bathroom.

“Earlier this year, we received another report of mould in the property. Unfortunately, despite contacting Ms Stewart on numerous occasions to arrange a damp and mould inspection, we have not been granted access.

“Our housing team remain in contact with Ms Stewart to arrange an inspection, and would urge her to work with us to ensure we can access her property and carry out any necessary repairs as soon as possible.”

Housing chief is ‘too busy’ to talk about shocking report

Cllr Una O’Halloran

ISLINGTON’S housing chief had no time to speak to the Tribune after we asked what has changed on the one-year anniversary of a damning ombudsman report.

Instead of responding to our messages, Labour councillor Una O’Halloran contacted the council’s press office – the Town Hall’s communications depart­ment which must always remain politically neutral and cannot comment on anything that may appear partisan. We were then informed that she was “busy” and would not take part directly in our coverage about the serious criticisms made of Islington’s housing department.

The Housing Ombudsman published a report finding Islington Council was responsible for “severe maladministration” of its council housing and ordered them to pay tens of thousands of pounds to tenants in compensation last October. In response, the council said they were “committed to delivering a number of improvements in an extremely challenging environment”.

Residents want to know if anything has changed and what the Labour leadership has done in the past 12 months. Since the council’s apology, the Tribune has reported on tenants suffering mould poisoning, being left for months without heating or hot water, and having to fight for more than a decade for a leak to be fixed.

In the same period the ombudsman found at least 12 new cases where the council was once again responsible for “maladministration” or “severe maladministration”, and ordered it to pay more than £13,000 in compensation.

Fredi Gentz, who heads up housing union ACORN in Islington, said the council’s own stock continues to have “massive short­comings”.

He said: “When we go door knocking on council estates in Islington we’re seeing really bad mould cases over and over again. In the UK we have the lowest housing quality stock in Europe so Islington isn’t isolated in that, but we have lots and lots of social housing tenants in Islington and the council could absolutely be doing more to deal with those repairs quicker”.

Councillors in Labour authorities have repeatedly put the blame on a lack of cash from Conservative governments.

As unelected officers, the council press team cannot comment on whether the political situation has changed with the arrival of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.

The housing chief is among the runners and riders seeking to fill the leader’s position at the Town Hall following the departure of Kaya Comer-Schwartz. This week, tweets showed her schedule included doorknocking in the Junction ward.

Mr Gentz said that one of the major problems across the country is that councils are “under resourced”.

He added: “With a Labour government we need to see a massive about of money going into those repairs. As long as every council’s budget continues to be cut by central government, there’s not a lot we can do. There will be limitations of a Labour government, but there will be good things amongst it. We’re quite realistic that we’re not going to see billions of pounds poured into council housing over night.”

Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, urged Islington Council to be “open and transparent about its progress with residents”.

He added: “The remedies we have provided for individual residents throughout this investigation and since have been vital for them, but it is important that the landlord learns the lessons of these service failings to improve the experiences of all residents.”