The footage is akin to a scene within the movie Titanic. A torrent of water cascades down the stairwell.
But this isn’t a sinking cruise liner. It’s a block of social housing in Mitcham, south London, and it gives a miserable perception into the UK’s housing disaster.
“I think the materials just simply aren’t good enough,” campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa advised Sky News.
The housing activist lives across the nook from the flooded block and filmed the deluge on his telephone earlier than posting the movies on-line. They kind the newest chapter in his two-year-long campaign to enhance the state of social housing.
Accusing builders and housing associations of reducing corners, he mentioned: “They’re charging lease and wish to maximise their earnings however it’s on the expense of tenants’ well being and security.
“That is what I’m seeing – it’s tenants’ health and safety. Six years on from Grenfell, that isn’t good enough.
“It shouldn’t be taking place.”
The three-storey block in Mitcham was accomplished in 2017 and tenants say it has been plagued with issues nearly from the beginning.
Sky News has seen photographs exhibiting mushrooms rising on the ceiling of communal hallways and black mould on the partitions.
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“Everyone gets the smell of the mould when they enter the building,” mentioned Natalie, who moved into the block in January 2018.
Since 2021, she says she’s raised two complaints about damp with Southern Housing, which runs the block, however claims she’s been “ignored”.
“They’ll send someone out, or ‘put it in an email, put it in writing and we’ll get someone out there’.
“They actually simply took [the mushrooms] off the wall. They have not really positioned the issue. They took them off the wall and painted.
“They clearly don’t care.”
The flood has rendered the block quickly uninhabitable. The 20 households affected are both dwelling with associates or have been rehoused.
Elvis Mensah-Akorah and his household of 5 are being put up in a lodge. But it would not come near assembly the wants of his 20-year-old son, who’s severely disabled and must be fed by a gastrostomy tube into his abdomen. As such, he is been compelled to maneuver into specialist care, away from his dad and mom.
“I feel so bad and it’s unfair,” Elvis advised Sky News.
“[Southern Housing] are making me suspect this is pure punishment and discriminatory.”
Southern Housing declined a request for an interview however advised Sky News they had been in every day contact with Mr Mensah-Akorah and can “work closely with him to understand his concerns”.
The firm mentioned the flood was attributable to a defective mains water pump which induced a spike in stress, leading to a burst to the communal pipes on the property.
In a press release, it added: “This isn’t an issue with the standard of the development, it’s a single component mechanical failure of a part that was six years old.
“Our contractor was on site within 30 minutes of the first reports of the leak to us and we’ve been working round the clock to resolve this repair issue. Our contractors will continue working over the weekend in order to get residents back to their homes as quickly as possible.
“We’re additionally investing in extra measures to make sure if this example happens once more it won’t trigger harm to communal areas or particular person flats.
“We’re a not for profit organisation and we’re investing millions of pounds in the safety of our buildings. We reinvest any surpluses into improving residents’ homes, neighbourhoods, services and building new homes to reduce housing need.”
Source: information.sky.com”