Residents believe poor housing conditions are contributing to breathing problems, stress, disrupted sleep and mental health issues
Residents living across housing estates in Southwark have demanded urgent action be taken to fix ‘unsafe’ housing conditions which they say are harming their physical and mental health. The Wyndham Heat Network Action Group is a resident and tenant-led campaign set up by those living on the Wyndham and Comber Estate and the Brandon 2 and Brandon 3 Estates which officially launched on June 3.
The campaign is to highlight ongoing problems with the Wyndham Heat Network, a communal heating sysytem which residents say is causing some flats to overheat, have frequent outages or have no heating at all. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has approached Southwark Council for comment.
Residents say they have reported repeated heating and hot water outages alongside other disrepair issues inside their homes, and believe these conditions have contributed to breathing problems, stress, disrupted sleep and poor mental health. The Southwark Group of Tenants Organisations (SGTO) and health justice organisation, Medact are supporting the campaign to highlight how problems with mould, leaks and structural defects are causing people’s health to deteriorate.
During last week’s official campaign launch, residents came together to share concerns over the conditions of their homes and heard from a healthcare professional on the impact of living in unsafe housing. A resident who wished to remain anonymous but has lived on the Brandon 2 Estate for almost two decades, says she has experienced heating and hot water outages throughout her time living there with her family.
She told the room: “All I’m asking for is a living space where people can live. You know, we pay our charges. We pay our rent and we ask for decent homes that we can live happily because I love where I live. I love the space. It’s really nice. My neighbours are nice. Why do we have to suffer all the time?”
She added: “I hope whoever is listening, help us, listen to us because we are the ones that live there. Contractors don’t live there. They come and fix whatever they fix. Sometimes they don’t even fix it. They just stand there and say, ‘I don’t really know. I think I need to call my manager and come back’.
“Sometimes they come, they pack their vans down there, they don’t come up. The vans are there with the engines on, burning fuel, but they don’t do anything. They just sit there.”
Fowziya Ali, another resident who was speaking at the campaign launch, described how her elderly neighbour is living in a property that is extremely hot and compared it to an oven. Ms Ali said: “She recently invited me to go into her flat and she said, ‘please come in, I can hardly breathe,’ and when she opened her door it was literally like opening an oven. It was so hot and you know she has lived there for 40 years.
“She’s really elderly. No one is listening to her, she has complained [but] she doesn’t know how to navigate [or be on the phone for one hour]. She’s over 80, she can’t continue to do that.”
She added: “Working with a number of charities when it comes to housing, I have realised the people, the housing officers are not being held accountable, unfortunately that is one thing that comes up when working with families. Another thing is they don’t have any empathy.”
Residents say the poor housing conditions are particularly causing damage to both physical and mental health, especially for older people, children and those with existing health conditions.
Dr Laura-Jane Smith, a respiratory consultant at King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill, said: “Some homes have been severely neglected by landlords, by housing associations, and by councils. And people have been failed. And so in my clinic, what I hear every single week, what I see on my wards in hospital is that people do everything right.
“They eat the right things. They take the medicines they’re told to take. They get some exercise. And yet they are sick. And they know why they’re sick. And I know why they’re sick, but they don’t seem to be able to get the help that they need.”
Dr Smith added: “They show me pictures of damp patches, black mould. They tell me about how it’s completely unbearably hot in summer, freezing in winter. They cough, they wheeze, they can’t breathe.
“They have headaches, skin rashes, and stress, and they tell me again and again that they have asked for help. They ask me to help. I write letters. They come back in a few months. Nothing has changed.”
The Wyndham Heat Network Action Group has listed several key demands that they want Southwark Council to work with them on, including providing a detailed explanation on why delivery of repairs and major works have reportedly happened.
Other demands include creating a tenant and resident-led board to investigate issues and work with Southwark Council to alleviate them, with regular meetings that ensure tenants and residents have oversight.
A Medact representative said: “Housing is a fundamental determinant of health. When homes are not safe, dry, and warm, people’s health suffers. This collaboration brings together lived experience and public health expertise to push for meaningful change.”
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