Furious residents say housing charity left them ignored and in the cold
By Jacob Paul
Residents housed by an independent housing association and charity are furious after having their housing problems ignored.
Housing for Women have not listened to the voices of those they were meant to be helping in their building at The arches on Childers street in Deptfort, say residents.
Unfixed problems include leaking ceilings, heating problems, no hot water, broken door handles, faulty toilets and poor cleaning of communal areas which they have to pay a service charge for.
Residents are furious that solutions to these problems have only been temporary, and the block feels things that need changing, such as a new boiler, are not being addressed.
The residents are members of a WhatsApp group where they have come together to vent their anger about the issues.
Kellie Campbell, 39, is a single mum who’s homeschooling her kids.
She’s lived in the building since 2010, and said the problems get worse year by year.
She said: “It’s been hard, it’s been very difficult.
“I feel depressed most of the time, yesterday I was crying because the hot water wasn’t fixed. I want to give my kids a bath and a shower but I can’t do it.
“I have to boil the kettle to bathe my kids which is not good and I shouldn’t have to do that.
“Nobody’s listening to us, my kitchen is falling apart and the handles on cupboards and doors keep falling off, I’ve got young children and it’s dangerous.”
Sam Elson, 41, lives in the building with her husband and two children.
She said: “We’ve got no trust in them at all, there’s no consistency and they very rarely return our phone calls and emails.
“It’s just depressing, we all laugh about it but it’s soul destroying, and it’s like a full time job trying to get everything done.
“They just don’t care, the only time they correspond with us is to tell us what we’ve done wrong.”
Zaiba Qureshi, Chief Executive of Housing for Women, said: “We recognise that in some instances, our response and ability to deliver repair works for our residents has not met our standards and those expected by our residents.
“In light of this, we regularly review and communicate our repairs procedures to our residents to help manage their expectations.
“The impact of Covid-19 has not only resulted in a reduction in the number of non-emergency repairs we have been able to carry out, but also far busier than usual phone lines.
“We understand how frustrating this must be and we are working to provide an improved customer service system that will allow our residents to receive the response they require.”
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Thanks for the quote but I am 41 not 59.
I am 41 not 59. Great article, thankyou for covering.
This is also happening in Gosterwood Street. We moved into our home in 2012 and it has been nothing but hell. Constant problems with the heating and hot water as we have the same supplier with our neighbours from Childers Street. They deduct our money everyday from our meters plus charge three other service charges for the communal heating. Rip off service charges for services that are either not provided or partially provided and no refunds are given despite them being aware that they scammed every home. Some repairs takes years to be carried out, defects are ignored for years. Leaks are ignored until there is severe damage because that enables H4W to claim off their insurance. Our homes are infested with silverfish due to all the leaks we’ve had that they ignored for so long. The bin room is infested with rats. So many of my neighbours have had problems with repairs not being carried out in a timely timeframe and the only way repairs are acknowledged is either through sharing images and videos on social media or through pressure from our MP who has been working tirelessly to help us for years. But even then repairs aren’t done properly. They carry out the cheapest job without rectifying the issues. They get contractors to lie and then blame them and lie to the Housing Ombudsman. Complaints are ignored, health and safety is ignored, basically everything is ignored. Gosterwood already had a fire in 2017 due to H4W’s negligence. We were meant to have temporary fire protection on our balconies and then have them replaced with non flammable balconies by September 2019. Even after their document got leaked by a staff member, H4W lied to my neighbour denying that the balconies needed replacing. Then after the document got shared, they admitted the balconies needed replacing. Now H4W have told us that our unprotected balconies will not have temporary fire protection and to date we have no idea when our flammable balconies will be replaced with non flammable balconies. We have been asking to see the cladding test reports since 2017 but they have denied us copies of the reports stating that the documents are commercial and technical and only recently stated that if we want to view the reports we have to do it face to face with a staff member, knowing we are in a pandemic. We have rough sleepers inside communal areas, strangers entering the bin room and going through our rubbish and doing other things they shouldn’t be doing yet nine years later, nothing has improved. It just gets worse every year. H4W then have the audacity to lie and cover up their failings, either blaming tenants, staff or contractors for their failings. They deleted all their reviews in 2018 because so many tenants spoke out about the true horror and scandal of what it is like to live in their awful and unsafe homes. They continue to report and remove reviews because they do not want the truth coming out. They do not care about tenants safety or security, the only thing they care about is making money. And if you can’t afford to pay rent upfront, they will threaten you with eviction and hound those with rent arrears. They do not care if you get yourself into debt or live in poverty, because H4W are the ones that cause it. And if you dare speak out, they make your life even more hell and make you suffer as punishment for speaking out. How can they call themselves a charity when they don’t act or behave like a charity? They have never supported us, never empowered us, never provided us with good quality and safe housing and it’s no way affordable being a tenant with them. The staff turnover is shocking. Yet H4W justify their spending on staff in their financial statement claiming it was to improve customer service. That’s an insult to all of us who are stuck and prisoners of H4W. Their customer service is non existent. They have no care, no empathy, no morals, no respect, no dignity and no compassion towards women, men or children, especially those who are vulnerable. They portray a fake image for the sake of publicity so they can get more donations and funding. They have caused so many of us mental illnesses and poor health. The board never hold the executive team accountable and the council just turn a blind eye. The board and council should all hold their heads in shame for allowing this to continue since 2012. Its just a matter of time before someone takes their own life again or someone ends up hospitalised due to H4W’s negligence. We all know they’re corrupt and the worst landlord ever.
Thank you SLP for highlighting the issues and listening to residents concerns which have been ongoing for many years. There are many more issues, concerns and complaints by many residents that continue to be ignored by HfW. Not just in South London.
Unfortunately your article has made no impact or difference in HfW improving their repairs and customer service which they claim they’ve been doing for the past five years. You should contact every MP and local authority that have HfW residents, so you can find out the true scale of how deceptive HfW are.
Many residents have been suffering and putting up with HfW’s inability of being a landlord for years. The buildings and homes in Childers street are full of defects and disrepairs. Nearly a year after the fire, HfW are yet to share the results of the fire investigation. However they are quick to blame a resident for the fire. Had HfW listened to the recommendations of the specialist they hired and provided the temporary fire protection like they were told to do, the fire would have never been as bad as it was. But as usual, they chose money and profit over safety. Now, each household has to decant, with two homes at a time moving, for a number of weeks, while intrusive works are carried out starting from October until summer 2022. Residents are already fed up with the current works taking place in the building that had the fire. The waking watch is still there despite HfW stating that by the end of January all temporary fire alarms would be fitted and waking watch would end. HfW have not denied that their new temporary alarms are faulty and claim that they’ve been unable to gain access to a few homes to instal the new temporary fire alarms which is why waking watch are still present. Being in lockdown and everyone at home, this is hard to believe. There is no transparency whatsoever at HfW. And the lack of communication in updating residents is appalling.
Gosterwood is a lot worse than Childers. The fact they have a stay put policy, is shocking because those buildings are a lot worse than Childers and an accident waiting to happen. Neither streets have had the remedial works into balconies done. If HfW have nothing to hide, then they should share the actual reports from the cladding tests instead of sending out a generic letter stating that at the time of construction, the buildings were compliant. At the time of construction buildings being compliant and now are are two different things. The companies HfW hire nearly always have a conflict of interest.