‘Unbearable’: Rent campaigners lobby council over pregnant single mum in sewage-ridden flat

Rent campaigners gathered on the Town Hall steps. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Campaigners protested outside Hackney Town Hall yesterday on behalf of a pregnant single mother whose “appalling” living conditions had forced her and her daughter to use a bucket instead of a toilet.

Eden Laoutaris and her daughter, Lily, moved from a hostel into temporary accommodation on the derelict Woodberry Down Estate two years ago, only to face a “litany” of problems, including power outages, damp and mould, and sewage backsurges for roughly a year.

“It’s absolutely unbearable,” Eden told the Citizen.

Her mother, Katina, added that though Eden – who is carrying twins – had asked the council for help for a year, she had not been designated a housing officer.

“She’s spent hours on the phone just trying to find out who she needs to talk to,” she said.

“People come out and all they do is say, ‘Yes, this is awful’, but then they leave and nothing gets done.”

Katina said she worried these conditions were a factor in her daughter developing hyperemesis gravidarum, an extreme form of morning sickness.

She said Eden, who is in her third trimester, is “vomiting day and night”.

Meanwhile, Lily’s asthma had worsened to the point that Eden and her were sleeping in the living room because the bedroom they shared was ridden with black mould.

Eden explained that electrical failures in the property also meant she and her daughter were solely relying on a microwave for hot meals.

She added that other people in the same building also faced systemic disrepair like hers, including blocked toilets.

“Everyone I know who is living there is struggling with the same problem.”

Yesterday afternoon, protestors from the London Renters Union (LRU) had arrived on the Town Hall steps ahead of the council’s cabinet meeting, chanting: “When you break a promise, we turn up to your office!”

Some were brandishing signs that read ‘Come out Sade’, referring to Hackney’s cabinet member for temporary accommodation, Cllr Sade Etti.

Woodberry Down Estate in north Hackney, where many homeless residents are being temporarily housed. Image: Google

The LRU had been imploring Cllr Etti to speak with Eden and her family directly about their “dangerous” situation.

Rod O’Donnell, an LRU representative, told the Citizen: “We’ve come here to get justice. This has been going on for maybe a year or more, and finally, the council has said it’s unsuitable – but still nothing has happened.

“It’s beyond incompetence.”

Eden and many other people are being housed in temporary accommodation at the Woodberry Down Estate in Manor House.

The housing estate, buiit as one of Europe’s largest, has been undergoing a major regeneration project since 2009 with the aim of building 5,500 new homes.

Last year the redevelopment entered Phase 4, when councillors approved the demolition of buildings and the construction of 511 homes by developer Berkeley Group.

Of these, 289 (57 per cent) will be offered for private sale, 132 (26 per cent) will be sold on an ‘intermediary’ or shared ownership basis, and only 90 (18 per cent) will be social rented housing.

In an earlier statement, O’Donnell said: “Labour promises that private developer-led house building can fix the housing crisis, but for families like Eden’s, the result of handing these corporate giants power over our communities is dangerous disrepair and a complete lack of security.”

Speaking to the Citizen, O’Donnell acknowledged that while council departments were constrained by a lack of central government funding, “they don’t have to treat people this way”.

“It just isn’t an excuse that they don’t have the resources or the time. These are careless mistakes.”

Cllr Etti later came out from the Town Hall and into the crowd to sit and talk with Eden and her mother about the situation.

Katina later proclaimed to the protestors that the union and Eden had secured a meeting with the council, including housing officers, next Wednesday (28 May) “on the union’s terms”.

Shortly before Cllr Etti spoke with the residents, she told the Citizen the council was “aware” that the homes being used for emergency housing at Woodberry Down were ageing, difficult to maintain and did not meet modern standards.

“That’s why our regeneration plans are replacing these with modern, high-quality and genuinely affordable social rented homes for the hundreds of permanent council tenants living on the estate – complementing our ambitious programme of new council homes across Hackney.

“Sadly, the severity of Hackney’s housing crisis means that thousands more people still face a long wait for a permanent home.”

Etti added that using these empty properties scheduled for demolition was not ideal, but the housing shortage meant it was “one of the ways” homeless people could stay in the borough and in their support network until they were  re-housed for good.

“I understand Eden’s concerns about the condition of the home, and am arranging to meet with her to discuss her situation as we continue to work to resolve these issues and secure the family a suitable long-term place to live.”