Category Archives: personal story

Resist or Resign: Damp and Mould is a Crime!

families, Focus E15 Campaign, gender, housing crisis, housing struggles, mould, Newham council, personal story, public action, , ,

Sewage Water Floor to Floor with Newham Council

Focus E15 campaigner
Focus E15 campaigner Paige Daines

Focus E15 Housing Campaign campaigner and Newham resident Paige Daines moved to Brassett Point with her six-month-old son in 2023. After a terrible period in emergency accommodation in Victoria Street she thought moving there was a blessing. But the lack of fundamental repairs and the poor upkeep of the block became another day-to-day reality that she and her fellow residents have had to fight through — facing long response delays, phone calls on hold, general fobbing off by the council, and at times outright rudeness.

Paige describes how the situation first became known to her, revealing serious ongoing problems in the block that affect residents’ physical and mental health.

Damp and water Damage at Brasset Point

So when did you first realise how bad things were at Brassett Point?

When I first moved in, my neighbour told me that the woman who lived there before me had several water leaks, to the point where the whole ceiling collapsed on her. That’s the first time I heard about it. One resident was also instructed to use a bucket because the toilet was broken in her flat with leaking sewage water.

After living there for about a month, I started seeing water coming through my ceiling. Later on, after living there longer, I found out the water coming back through was actually sewage water. Then I met an older woman upstairs on the seventh floor who told me she’s been living with this for 30 years.

You mentioned that when you tried to report water dripping onto your food, the council responded in an unhelpful way, to put it mildly?

So when I rang the council about the situation, they told me they “wasn’t a food bank”, when all my cupboards had got soaked and all my belongings were wet.

After protesting outside the repairs centre, they told me they were taking the soil pipe into consideration. But then later they told me they were only going to do a temporary fix for two years — so it’s just going to come back again.

So this is the soil vent pipe which contains sewage water. How did you feel when you heard it was sewage water?

I thought it was disgusting that the council allows people to live in a building exposed to sewage water, which clearly can make people ill and give them stomach bugs.

I found out from one of the neighbours that a small child’s bedroom was swimming in sewage water up to the level of their ankles.

Could you say more about what your neighbours told you about this?

Another neighbour had to get a lawyer to sort out the issues in her flat because of the ongoing leaks and damage. They had to put her in a hotel costing hundreds of pounds a week because she couldn’t live in her flat.

Residents say thousands of pounds have been spent on legal cases and temporary accommodation, yet the sewage pipe still has not been permanently repaired.

What role do you think the Focus E15 Housing Campaign has played in trying to highlight all this?

Protesting at Brassett Point

We had a protest outside the council’s repairs centre. One of the campaigners was wearing a cowboy builder costume to show how all the repairs were temporary and badly done.

We did draw attention to the process and they promised us they would fix the issue, but they never did. They never got back to us. Later I learned they only ever intended to do temporary fixes for the next two years.

A Cowboy Builder

When we went on the protest people were very angry about it. What do you think the way forward is now for residents?

I think more people should get involved, and more protests need to happen. We probably need to pester the new mayor with meetings to address these issues. This has been going on for 30 years for some residents. We all need to come together. We need to insist that they fix the Soil Vent Pipe properly and stop spending thousands of pounds doing temporary fixes.

The Soil Vent Pipe with years of water damage

Paige’s experience is far from isolated. Residents at Brassett Point have repeatedly organised together to try to force the council to address the long-running sewage and disrepair problems in the block.

The council say that the problems are due to a faulty Soil Vent Pipe. However, residents from Brassett Point are fed up with years of disrepair, of being ignored, and living with ongoing leaks, damp and contaminated water in their homes. They want the issues to be fixed.

The Protest and the Council’s Response

On the 25 March 2026, Focus E15 campaigners and Newham residents from Brassett Point, held a protest outside the Bridge Road Depot. We held banners and placards together. The message to the council was simple: no more living with sewage water running from floor to floor.

During the protest, a council worker told us we were “giving the council a bad name” and asked us to take the banner down. However, passing motorists were reading the signs and hooting their car horns in support.

After protesting for only 10 to 15 minutes, senior housing officials came out of their offices: Paul Kitson, Head of Housing, Michael Callaghan, Director of Housing Services, and Loretta Chalkley, Assistant Director of Property Services.

They were polite and apologetic. Residents explained the years-long battle to deal with damp, mould and sewage water leaking into cupboards and homes, ruining decorations, furniture and belongings. People spoke about being left on hold for hours, emails going unanswered, appointments being missed or denied, and the exhaustion of constantly chasing repairs.

Loretta Chalkley explained that the council knew all about the issues at Brassett Point. Residents were told about a company called Apollo, who carried out repair works, but whose “time ran out in 2018” and apparently no longer exist. The manufacturers, Polypipe, were also mentioned, with discussion of an alleged design fault that the council said it was in talks about.

Tea and coffee were provided, and drawing pads and pens found for the children. The council representatives repeatedly apologised for the conditions residents had been living in. By the end of the meeting, the following plan was agreed:

  1. A letter would be sent to all residents.
  2. A Resident/Housing Liaison Officer would be appointed to collect residents’ concerns and escalate issues directly to senior management.
  3. Regular “touch points” — meetings and updates — would be arranged so residents could be kept informed.

Meeting the officers

What Has Happened Since?

The council fully acknowledged the appalling conditions at Brassett Point — conditions that for some residents have lasted years, even decades.

Everyone who had attended the protest received a phone call the same day. During those calls, further promises were made about ongoing communication and regular contact, suggesting that the issues would be resolved.

However, residents say very little has happened since.

Calls have not been returned. Follow-up communication has largely stopped. Residents who were promised updates say they have struggled to get responses when trying to contact the council. Many now feel the meeting was more about removing the protest from public view than seriously addressing the issues.

Residents were brought inside, listened to sympathetically, and reassured that action would be taken — but the sewage water continues to run through the building.

For many living at Brassett Point, the feeling now is that they are still being managed rather than heard.

Victory! Newham Council forced to reinstate housing duty

evictions, families, Focus E15 Campaign, hostel, housing crisis, housing struggles, Newham council, personal story, public action, single mothers, women

A mother and child, survivors of domestic abuse were labelled by the Council as having made themselves intentionally homeless, and therefore, the council discharged its housing duty to this family.

The family, who are living in an overcrowded hostel, had questioned the Council over an unsuitable offer of housing because the new property was in an area that is local to the perpetrator. What follows from a discharge of housing duty is eviction and often, a referral to social services. The family were extremely frightened and upset.

Due to having no option but to fight back, this mother was involved in collective action with Focus E15 campaign, in a process that culminated in a demonstration outside and inside the full council meeting on 16 January, at the Old Town Hall in Stratford. Council officials responded by offering a face to face meeting.

After this meeting took place on 19 January the council was forced to reverse the decision to discharge their duty. The woman said:

The public support I have been shown since we protested at the Newham Council meeting on Monday has been amazing. On the basis of this pressure, today Newham Council scrapped the decision to discharge their duty to me and I am no longer threatened with intentional homelessness. Protest works.

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz was also forced by pressure and protest in May 2022 to promise that all families with children would be moved out of the notorious 10 Victoria Street hostel by May 2023 as it is no place for children to grow up in. However, threatening eviction as an exit strategy from this building is a shameful moment for the Council. We must ensure that decent homes are now found.

Stand with all those families still languishing in Victoria Street hostel, and with all those moved out into damp, cold homes with mould that the council has allowed to fall into disrepair.

Housing Justice and Respect!
No Evictions! No Excuses! No Threats!

Focus E15 will be celebrating on the street stall outside Wilko’s this Saturday from 12pm.

Soon to be evicted -young person speaks out.

evictions, families, Focus E15 Campaign, hostel, housing crisis, Newham council, overcrowding, personal story

NO EVICTIONS!

Shelter is a basic human need!

Brimstone House, 10 Victoria Street, E15 is a notorious temporary and emergency accommodation building owned and run by Newham Labour council.

Built as a young people’s foyer, it is not suitable for couples let alone families with children. 

Listen to the interview below of a young person who has spent all of his teenage years in Brimstone House. The toll on the parents and young person, now 18 years old, is huge, physically and emotionally. The pandemic years and lockdowns have made it even harder. 

This family is facing eviction – the bailiffs are coming on Thursday 10 February.

It’s too late to stop it says Newham Council.

It can’t be stopped say the lawyers.

Where do the family go?

Stand with Focus E15 campaign to say NO EVICTIONS.

Oppose and expose this cruel system that punishes the vulnerable and strips people of their dignity.

Newham Council advertises itself with the words People at the Heart of Everything We Do….

However 25.2% of all housing is overcrowded in Newham, well over the London average of 14.6% in social housing and 12.6% in the private rented sector. Newham Council has just spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to get a Yes vote in the Carpenters Estate ballot on regeneration, which means a substantial number of council homes will be demolished.

Two million council houses have been lost through the Right to Buy policy since 1981 in Britain, and in the past decade only 147,000 ‘social rent’ houses have been built in England, while over 282,000 have been sold or demolished. Almost 2 million people are on the housing waiting list.

Publicly-owned housing on a mass scale is the only way to address the housing crisis and we will have to fight for it.

Listen to to the interview from a young person, describing life growing up in a hostel and the threat of being evicted :

Join Focus E15 campaign on the streets every Saturday 12-2pm on Stratford Broadway outside Wilko’s.

Life on Carpenters Estate -a life worth fighting for

Carpenters Estate, class, gender, london, Newham council, personal story, women

A local resident speaks to Focus E15 campaign about what Carpenters Estate means to her.

When I reminisce about my best moments growing up, I always think of the Carpenters estate. I can’t imagine growing up in a more fulfilling community.


Across all generations we supported one another. You had the over 65s, some who had known each other since the 2nd World War. They had grown up together and then raised their children together. It was a very close, caring and supportive community that felt more like a family. Us children would all attend Carpenters primary school and play together afterwards in the lovely green spaces and park. There was so many different cultures too, I tried so many different cuisines and learned a lot by being around different ethnicities and religions. I actually believed the whole world was multicultural like the estate I grew up on, because to me Carpenters was the only world I knew.


Over the years we have seen people be moved away and relocated. It started with the Olympics. So many people were paid off and moved on. The place was becoming more and more deserted and neglected. There was never a problem to start with on Carpenters, it was just an inconvenience to Newham council and the London Olympics to have ‘common people’ so close to the games and the new Westfield. They were creating a new Stratford and we were an inconvenience to that image.


Now they are proposing to regenerate the whole area! That will mean 60% of homes being demolished. That includes my Grandmothers house which she worked her whole life to own, just to be told in her early 80s that she is at risk of losing it, because they need the land now for their new plans. It’s all what works for them and they never consider the people they are affecting. My Grandmother had been very stressed due to thinking she had to move. Carpenters estate is all she knows and she loves her home and didn’t want to move. Also she was worried about decorating or changing carpets in case she is forced to move.

The council have said that the residents of the estate supports demolition which is a lie.
Why would we want our homes destroyed? If they want to support residents, why not improve the conditions on this estate right now? We had already voted for refurbishment over redevelopment but now they are saying something completely different. They have been trying to degrade the estate to make it seem that they have the solution, which is to demolish, because in the long run, it’s what’s makes them the most profit, they do not care about the welfare and health of the elderly and the stress and affects on mental health of local residents.

We must Vote No to keep Carpenters alive and rebuild a community that they demolished years ago. Choose refurbishment over demolition. Community over Capitalism. Everyone deserves a place to live and to stay in their homes that they love and feel content in.

What can you do to help?

Join the Focus E15 campaign street stall outside Wilkos in Stratford from 12pm and then on the Carpenters Estate near the shop this Saturday 20 November from 1pm.

Please sign and share our petition to say No to demolition: https://www.change.org/p/civica-election-services-misconduct-of-ballot-to-demolish-60-of-livable-homes-on-the-carpenters-estate?recruiter=734527316&recruited_by_id=41c2ba70-520e-11e7-a8e9-3b39b4752e4a&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=share_for_starters_page&utm_medium=whatsapp&utm_content=washarecopy_31368841_en-GB%3A7

Hostel accommodation – harmful to families

families, Focus E15 Campaign, gender, housing crisis, mothers, Newham council, overcrowding, personal story, single mothers, women

At a meeting with families from Brimstone House and Focus E15 campaign with the head of temporary accommodation in Newham, one of the mothers expressed what they are all going through, summarised in the powerful points below. This important piece of writing is going up on our website on 5 May. 

This is a very important day in the history of struggle in the east end, as it is the birthday of Sylvia Pankhurst, who was born in 1882, 139 years ago. Sylvia Pankhurst was a courageous fighter for human rights, for working class rights, an internationalist, a communist, an anti-racist and anti-fascist, an anti-imperialist. 100 years ago, in the east end of London, Sylvia Pankhurst was active on the streets, in the meeting rooms and organising to challenge the local council and the government about housing, healthcare, education…… 

The women of Brimstone House are continuing that fight for their rights and the rights of their children. Please read below and understand that the legacy of Sylvia Pankhurst’s fight goes on and we can still win important and inspiring victories and be part of building resistance by the solidarity of collective action and class struggle.

Long Live Sylvia Pankhurst! All strength to the women and children of Brimstone House!

This is a summary of what it is like Brimstone House, 10 Victoria Street, Newham, as expressed by the current residents:

  1. There is no welcoming process at Brimstone House and no information about how to complete relevant housing application forms in order to move on.
  1. It is not clear who the case worker is for individual families to discuss their applications or housing needs. When a case worker is finally assigned, it is near-impossible to get hold of them resulting in being bounced from one department to another, and having complaints/issues fall in between the cracks in the system.
  1. There are families living in Brimstone House for three years or more without a housing suitability assessment being completed and ongoing struggles to obtain bidding numbers. 
  1. The rent for studio rooms in Brimstone House is close to £800 per month, not including bills and council tax. A council home with two bedrooms, two storage units, a kitchen, a living/dining room, is about £500 a month.
  1. Single mothers are having to leave their work/jobs, to depend on benefits, because they are worse off working and becoming more impoverished by having to pay full rent. Universal Credit deducts 63 pence out of every £1 after the first £292.
  1. The studio flats in Brimstone House were designed for the purpose of a single person’s living accommodation, yet the council is now using them for families with three or more children, as well as partners. Families are forced to live, eat, share bunk beds/sofas, in the same living space. 
  1. It is shocking to think that anyone should be living in such squalid conditions in Britain, the fifth or sixth richest country in the world. Made worse by Newham’s slogan: ‘People at the heart of everything we do.’
  1. The flats have numerous hazards that also impact on life at Brimstone House, these include mould, bugs, rodents, and other pests (about which letters are frequently circulated). The other main hazard is the frequency with which the lift breaks down. Then single mothers, pregnant women, people with disabilities are seen carrying buggies, pushchairs, shopping, children up and down nine floors.
  1. The water boilers are often broken, faulty, or too small to provide what is needed in a British winter and often there is no answer to the request for plumbers to fix faulty showers. There are occasions when residents have been told to use buckets. Many flats have heaters that are not working, lighting is always faulty both in the corridors and the studio flats – and electricity bills are extortionate, often coming to more than £100 a month. The communal washing machine area is a health hazard with leaks and floods and inefficient machines which are known for recycling household filth.
  1. The bare flooring of wooden floors on many rooms are uneven and adults and children cannot go barefoot. Not being allowed to bring any furniture in means that families are forced to share bunkbeds and sleep on sofas, do not have enough chairs for everyone to even sit together to eat. Requests for more furniture are refused. 
  1. Children are the most affected by these living conditions, with an increase in skin allergies, eczema and respiratory infections and wheezy episodes. Their mental and physical wellbeing is compromised. There are children developing obesity because of their confined space. The restrictions being even more in the pandemic. Children’s toys and belongings often have to be left in the corridor as there is no storage space. This leaves parents in fear of possessions being thrown away as letters are circulated warning not to leave things there. 
  1. Children in Brimstone House have no space to study, to be free, and to form their own individual personalities in their own private space; Children are ashamed to have no bedroom or to say that they sleep with their mothers.
  1. The fire alarm goes off very frequently, sometimes daily at any time of day of nights. Children are dragged out again, having to negotiate flights of stairs, only to find out it is another false alarm. This causing huge anxiety. Security workers often have no knowledge how to pinpoint the fire alarm location. On 30 March 2021, an exit plan of the building in case of a fire was handed out.
  1. There are ongoing complaints about staff being disrespectful to residents and guests. Guests who are sometimes needed to look after someone who is ill or help with childcare, are often refused entry or there is the complication of an overnight form to be filled in and signed. This is supposed to be our home.

Newham Council! Brimstone House: No place for children

Watch as Newham mother is forced to study on cooker top

families, hostel, housing crisis, housing struggles, mothers, Newham council, overcrowding, personal story, ,

A mother living in a hostel is doing her best for her children by trying to keep up with her education. She wants to get ahead and move on with her life by studying, but the cramped living conditions make this difficult. She has to allow the children to play in one bit of the space and then is forced to learn and study in the tiny kitchen area by using the cooker as a work table. There is no other space available as she has two children – in a space that was originally designed for one single person. The hostel known as Brimstone House in 10 Victoria street in Stratford, Newham, is no place for a family to grow and learn.

Families have had to also endure months of living on top of each other throughout lockdown. It is claustrophobic. Why should she and her children be forced to live like this, in one of the richest countries in the world? Mothers have every right to be students and a decent society would ensure that everyone could access childcare and further education and fully contribute to society to the best of their abilities.

Watch and share the video below to understand how some are forced to live. We are demanding that Newham Council rehouse all the families in Brimstone house for the sake of the children’s future – they need to put down roots, to attend the same school, to become part of a neighborhood. Instead they are left at the mercy of the private rented sector, which often means short term tenancies, constant moving and overpriced accommodation. The families living in the hostel have had enough!

Video shows the cramped conditions of a hostel and how one mother is forced to study on top of her cooker

Come and help organise the campaign for decent housing in Newham by joining the regular street stall on Saturday’s from 12-2pm outside Wilko’s on the Broadway.

Newham council, give us a future! Give us a chance!

A banner describing the cramped living conditions on Brimstone House hostel, March 2021

Move families out of Brimstone House NOW!

building standards, Carpenters Estate, Focus E15 Campaign, gender, hostel, housing crisis, housing struggles, mothers, Newham council, overcrowding, personal story, single mothers, statements, women

On Sunday 7 February, a mother of two in Brimstone House, 10 Victoria Street, E15, could take it no more and shared very personal photos of her home to illustrate the contempt that Newham council has for families crammed into the shoddy, overcrowded, damp rooms in this building.

For two years, she has put up with damp, with mould, with inadequate and expensive heating appliances, with a cramped situation whereby she has to share a bed with her children, with no bedroom for her children to sleep in, no room to study for the older one now of school age, no privacy for her.

Then came the rain and in it came. Now the children’s books were ruined, now the mattress was all wet and all their bedding affected. She packed up the room into boxes and bags to safeguard what was left and she asked a family also living in similar conditions in the building if they could take her children overnight, which they kindly did. The next night, she found space on the kitchen floor to put the children down to sleep.

Being an active part of Focus E15 campaign, this brave, resilient mother put out the message to others. Tweeting Newham council got a response, she was contacted and there was a promise of a visit to see and sort out the problems….

But this mother of two is clear, you can sort out the leak but you cannot fix the endemic problems of Brimstone House. The only way to reverse the negligence of extended stays in this appalling living situation, is to move people out to decent homes. Until then, the huge toll on adults’ and children’s mental and physical health will continue.

Focus E15 campaign knows that there are empty homes around Newham, and shockingly, has to repeat again and again and again what everyone, including Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham, knows only too well – there are over 400 empty council homes on the Carpenters Estate, deliberately left empty for well over a decade, less than a mile from Brimstone House.

Residents of Brimstone House have voiced their issues loud and clear over and over again. In a recent exchange, mothers of young children expressed some of the issues they are struggling with in Brimstone House, in lockdown and with extreme difficulty getting replies from housing officers now that Bridge House and other housing offices are shut.

The constant merry-go-round of temporary and emergency housing: ‘Moving again with my child….we have been living in a hotel, then a friend’s house and then various shared houses. It’s been a physically exhausting year living in London, we have been moved five times already.’

The lack of security: ‘It’s really hard to see a way out of this … and then the empty horrible threats that they will remove our children. All this is magnified by constant insecurity, knowing we’re at their mercy and they really can do what they want. If the council was someone’s partner, they would say it’s an abusive relationship.’

Being forced into tiny spaces in lockdown in a pandemic: ‘It’s so narrow and the ceiling is very low, I feel boxed in. You can see the end of my feet is where the TV is supposed to go, glued to our eyes!’

Knowing there are empty homes nearby: ‘There is no way they can possibly justify not opening the Carpenters Estate and many others during this pandemic, I hope at some point we see someone held accountable for purposely keeping houses shut whilst knowing that we have been having a housing crisis for many many years.’

Being at the mercy of a system riven by division and discrimination: ‘And they purposely trap us in the illusion of their ‘fair’ system. If we don’t have jobs, they call us lazy, when we do get a job or try to pursue our education, they make it nearly impossible…Unfortunately a lot of people are either dismissive or insensitive, they don’t actually see just how oppressing and soul destroying this system is.’

The women show their strength and resilience: ‘Persevering in adversity is one of the many life skills we are passing down to our kids simply by living the best we can in these situations…’

The conversation ends on a positive note: ‘All they want is to distract us and make our lives not meaningful, they do not want us to achieve our goals because they know we are coming back to fight. All we need is NOT to keep quiet,  we should continue to use our voice, and I believe with the support of Focus E15 campaign together we will  win, they will hear our voice!’

Together we will win, they will hear our voice!

Get families out of Brimstone House now!

Resist! Reclaim! Repopulate!

Use the empty homes!

Telling the truth about what has been said, expressing ourselves on the street stall.
Mould growing inside a bedroom in Brimstone House
Where the TV is meant to go, no space for children to grow inside the flats in Brimstone House

No space! No light! No home for a family!

Focus E15 Campaign, gender, hostel, housing crisis, housing struggles, mothers, Newham council, personal story, single mothers, women

A Newham resident who lives in Brimstone house has been working with the campaign and has this to say about her living situation:

I am a 20 year old woman with a young baby. I grew up in Newham and am now a registered carer for my older brother who has a disability and cannot live independently. We both lived with my mum who is in full time work. I shared a bedroom with my brother. When I got pregnant the arrangement was still manageable but once my baby was born it was not possible to share the bedroom anymore. I had to move out.


I approached Newham council and explained the situation. No one will believe what happened next, but it is true. They offered to send a mediator to speak to my brother and my mother to negotiate me and my baby saying in the same bedroom as him. My brother’s disability means that he would not be able to cope with being woken several times in the night. It was embarrassing that the council worker thought it appropriate to offer this. My mother clearly turned this down but they didn’t take no for an answer and sent someone round to the house to talk to my brother. It felt like they didn’t care about or try to understand our situation. 


So they placed me and my baby in a hotel room as an emergency. I continued to care for my brother and, apart from my period of maternity leave, planned to resume my studies and my work. 
Then Newham offered me a place in Tilbury. I said no because I could not fulfil my caring duties with that distance to travel and a young baby.


I am probably lucky the council  didn’t accuse me of intentional homelessness and discharge duty to house me, like they do to so many people. Just before the March 2020 lockdown they gave me and my baby a room in Brimstone House, Victoria Street in Stratford, at least I am in Newham. But it is now nearly ten months. It seems like I have the smallest room in the block, my television obscures the window, it is no place for a child. 
I can’t afford the private rents, when I bid I am lucky to come 500th in line, and the council waiting list is a joke with about 24,000 people in the queue before me. 

How can there be a Labour Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz who promised so much three years ago and yet nothing seems to have changed (https://www.rokhsana.org/about/pledges/).
It is shocking to think that over 400 two- and three-bedroom flats lie empty on the Carpenters Estate in Stratford, yet families with babies and young children are left to grow up in terrible housing situations just a short walk away from the empty blocks

Refurbish and repopulate all of the council flats on the Carpenters Estate NOW!
There are over 200 families in Brimstone House. Let’s get together and organise to challenge this housing situation. Together we are stronger. There’s no time to lose. 

Give us space to live!

building standards, families, Newham council, overcrowding, personal story, single mothers

A mother and two children living in Brimstone House, 10 Victoria Street, Stratford E15, has taken the brave step of speaking out about the unbearable conditions they are forced to live in. Focus E15 campaign stands with her and all those facing these issues.

Brimstone House is no place for children to grow up in, yet hundreds of families with children are languishing there in overcrowded rooms, labelled temporary accommodation, for years. Less than a mile down the road, four hundred council homes lie empty on the Carpenters Estate, and all around luxury apartments continue to be built. 

In October 2020, when Rukaya asked about the difficulty with the space and the bed provision as the baby is too big for the cot, she was told her three-year-old could sleep on the sofa. When she challenged this, the options included getting her a bigger, better sofa and/or putting some of their belongings into storage….

This is a shocking story, but not an isolated one. 

Newham’s Labour Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said recently,  ‘The scale of the challenge has never been greater. But together with my cabinet, which I’m proud is one of the most diverse in the country, I am leading a hugely ambitious programme that sets out how we will improve residents’ lives now and well beyond the pandemic.’

Rokhsana Fiaz and her council have set out their housing policy. She said ‘We’ll continue prioritising housing delivery as we scale up our plans and meet promised targets. The housing strategy is another crucial milestone in our efforts to drive forward through all the instruments of the Council to deliver for local residents.’

In the tradition of Sylvia Pankhurst and the working class struggles of the east end of London and the East London Federation of Suffragettes, we say Deeds Not Words…

This is an emergency, for Rukaya, her children and all of those in Brimstone House. 

Even more urgent in a pandemic and lockdown conditions, in Newham which has the biggest percentage of children living in poverty of any borough in London, 25% of residents living in overcrowded housing, and in the first few months of the pandemic suffered the highest death rate in London from Covid19.

Rukaya and her two children need Newham Council to deliver on housing now, a proper solution – decent long-term housing with space for children to grow and develop and for Rukaya to take her life off hold and continue to study, to work and to be active in her community. 

Together we are stronger!

Solidarity with all those fighting for housing justice!

There is no excuse while there are empty homes.

Resources for the people and not for the property developers!

Newham housing horror as roof falls in

building standards, housing crisis, mothers, personal story, private landlords

Another shocking example of Newham’s poor quality housing in the London borough with the highest number of children living in poverty.

A mother Jennifer and her two children, five months old and eight years old, narrowly missed injury when their ceiling fell in on 29 October 2020.

With no space for a cot, nowhere to sit other than the bed, this room that is called a flat, has been ‘home’ to this family for almost five years, initially having been told that they would be staying there for only four months. It is affecting the health and development of the children and taking its toll on the physical and mental health of their mother.

The council had been told about the damp and humidity in the room and the health visitor had written letters. Most importantly on 1 October 2020, one month ago, the council housing review concluded that this place was NOT SUITABLE for the family and they needed rehousing. Then the ceiling fell in.

After the ceiling fell in, the mother was contacted and told by officials that the flat was safe to return to the next day, but the ceiling is still in a bad state of disrepair and no building inspection had taken place. Only by pressure has the family been placed in emergency accommodation in a hotel for a week. They have had a week with no cooking facilities, no laundry facilities, let alone space for other usual child activities. That week will be up on Friday 6 November 2020.

Newham has the highest number of children living in poverty of all London boroughs according to The End Child Poverty Coalition figures released in mid-October. The cost of housing (and therefore the related lack of council housing) has been identified as being the driver of child poverty in London. Newham, like every borough, has hundreds and hundreds of empty homes while 25% of people in Newham are in overcrowded living situations. In Stratford, shockingly, over 400 council homes still lie empty on the Carpenters Estate.

Labour Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz recently announced the council’s Covid19 Recovery and Reorientation Strategy.

In Rokhsana Fiaz’s words, they are concentrating on ‘neighbourhood’, pursuing social justice, and the council wants to create an inclusive economy where everyone benefits and the issues of poverty and inequality are addressed. Rokhsana Fiaz says that the measures of success will be Health, Happiness and Wellbeing.

We say to Newham Labour Council….

Jennifer and her children must NOT go back to that one room with a broken and dangerous ceiling– they must be REHOUSED locally, safely and decently by the end of this week for the health, happiness and wellbeing of this family. Rehouse Jenifer and her children now!