Family of seven forced to live in two rooms because of damp – as probe into overcrowded homes in Islington continues

Islington Town Hall. Photograph: Islington Citizen

A mother and her six children are being forced to live in one bedroom and a living room in their overcrowded Islington home because of damp, politicians have been told.

The home is “severely affected”, according to Islington Law Centre, with five family members sleeping on sofas and the floor in the living room.

Two disabled children sleep in the one suitable bedroom.

The case was raised at the council’s housing scrutiny committee, which continues to investigate overcrowding in the borough – central London’s most densely occupied.

A four-bedroom home is “unlikely to become available” for the family, said Islington Law Centre’s Fiona Mogre.

Like other local authorities, Islington’s stock of larger homes is in short supply.

Last year, it let out one six-bedroom home and had 79 people on the list for it.

Seven families moved into five-bedroom homes out of 181 applicants, and 22 four-bedroom homes were available to the 507 households waiting for one.

At the same time, 200 households would like to downsize.

Overall, 16,000 households are on the council’s housing waiting list. Just over a thousand were housed last year, with demand far outstripping supply.

Mogre said: “One of our particular concerns is the lack of available large properties within the borough.”

She said this is of particular concern when disabled residents and families crammed into two bedrooms “can be waiting for a number of years, often indefinitely”.

The legal adviser outlined conditions for a family of seven, with four children under the age of 10 ten, including one severely disabled child and an elderly wheelchair bound grandfather.

“No-one in that household gets much sleep,” she said.

She described how the parents share a bedroom with one child, and the other three children share a double bed with their grandfather.

There is no space to use special equipment for the grandfather and whilst “the family love him dearly, they can’t continue to care for him in their accommodation”.

Mogre explained that social services is looking at finding alternative accommodation for the grandfather. It is not what the family wants but the home is beset by damp, which cannot be treated effectively whilst people are living there and is aggravated by overcrowding, she said.

“It will be years before a four-bedroom homes comes up,” Mogre added.

Islington Council’s environmental team inspect private homes for damp and mould. It can issue enforcement notices as damp can cause health problems.

Cllr Benali Hamdache said one mother in his Highbury ward regularly has to throw away her children’s clothes because of damp.

He asked how residents can be helped in tackling damp and condensation.

Mogre said: “Condensation in severally overcrowded accommodation is common and is usually aggravated, if not caused, by overcrowding.”

The council is hoping for more grants from the Greater London Authority to help with its house-building programme, councillors heard. It plans to build 750 new homes by 2025.

The scrutiny committee is continuing its investigation into overcrowding and will hear from a housing association at its next meeting in November.