Pregnant nurse says home 'unsafe for baby' due to dampness
A pregnant nurse says her home will not be safe for her baby as the council currently cannot fix dampness due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Katie Whitehouse, 24, says she has had damp problems in her Birmingham City Council-owned flat since she moved in in 2013, and has flagged them with the authority.
But the council said it has tried unsuccessfully to arrange appointments with Ms Whitehouse for officers to look at the problems.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital nurse, who is 30 weeks pregnant, called the council to again raise concerns about mould, wet walls and a damp smell in the property two weeks ago.
She says she was told no-one could attend because of the coronavirus crisis.
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Ms Whitehouse says is currently unable to stay in the flat as the dampness makes her ill, so is moving between family and friends’ addresses.
As a result, she is unable to self-isolate at home so it is unsafe for her to go to work while her colleagues are on the frontline treating people suffering from Covid-19.
She gets no income while she is off work due to working through an agency, leaving her in financial difficulties ahead of her baby’s due date on June 8.
She has asked to be moved to a different council property but says she has been told she is not a priority, and has been unable to find exchange partners through the home swap website.
The flat is on an upper floor of an old building in Amesbury Road, Moseley, and Ms Whitehouse said she has had other problems including part of the ceiling collapsing and a leak upstairs.
Ms Whitehouse said: “Every time I go back to the flat, I get poorly. I do nursing at the QE but I’m not going to work because I can’t self-isolate at home.
“As it stands, I can’t go to work because of all of this going on. I’ve had seven years of ongoing problems. I moved in in 2013.
Uncomfortable
“Now it’s been getting worse again. On one side of the living room, it’s all wet. I spoke to somebody last week and they said nobody will come out because of coronavirus.
“It affects your breathing and chest. My aunt can’t come in because it affects her asthma. Everything smells in there. It just feels uncomfortable.
“It would be so unfair to have a baby in there. I have got no home to bring the baby into.
“I’m not able to self-isolate at home so can’t got to work. It’s frustrating, as financially, it’s leaving me very short. It’s leaving the hospital short of a nurse.
“It means I have no income. That will be the case until the flat gets sorted at this rate. I have been asked to be moved but they have said I am not a priority.”
A council spokesman said: “When housing repairs are requested, we work hard to fully support our tenants and make sure that the necessary work is completed in a timely manner. However, we also need our tenants to work with us.
“This means when appointments are made, they are available so that our contractors can get access to the property and any work can be carried out.
Urgency
“We also need for properties to be appropriately managed by tenants, which means keeping them both suitably aired and warm to sustain suitable living conditions.
“For many years now there has been a pattern of the council not being able to gain access to the property to undertake repairs.
“For context, when a tenant isn’t at home for their booked appointment, a calling card is left by the operative visiting the property to complete repairs/servicing asking the tenant to make contact within three days of the calling card being left.
“In this case, there has unfortunately been frequent instances of no subsequent contact from the tenant. If we cannot get access, we can’t undertake the repairs needed.
“Due to the impact of coronavirus, we are only able to carry out emergency repairs. These are being prioritised by urgency and a letter has been issued to tenants to inform them of these changes.
“We will be able to comment more fully [on Ms Whitehouse’s options] once we have been given access to the property and are in a position to understand what repairs are needed.
“We are hopeful that any repairs will be able to be completed quickly. However, we can give assurance that we will work with the tenant to support her if this is not possible.”
