Family forced to use leisure centre showers due to flats disrepair

Ms Munozgracia said she and her children had lived at the flat in Winn Gardens for more than two years

A woman has said she and her children were forced to shower at their local leisure centre for over a year due to a leaky bathroom in her Sheffield Council-owned flat.

Almudena Munozgracia, 35, said her flat in Winn Gardens had structural problems due to damp and mould, while an upstairs window opened fully without a catch.

She said other people living in the block of flats faced similar issues and everyone should be rehoused and the site rebuilt as it was no longer fit for purpose.

Sheffield City Council said it had this year approved a £450m investment over the next five years in improving the authority's property stock.

It added that damp, mould and condensation in housing was "not an issue unique to Sheffield, but to all local authorities across the country".

Almudena Munozgracia said her council-owned flat in Sheffield had been affected by several issues

Ms Munozgracia said she had lived in the flat for at least two years and had faced several problems due to damp and disrepair.

"When I was offered this accommodation, I didn't have a choice really because I wasn't a priority. I had to accept it."

She said the flat was "flooded on the window sills and the floorboards were rotten".

"The front door was broken. There is a gap between the frame and the door. There was serious structural damage in the floorboards because of the damp and leaks," she said.

Meanwhile, due to a leak in the bathroom she said she had to join a leisure centre so she and her two children aged seven and 12 could use its washing facilities.

"We couldn't shower for almost a year without it raining in the lounge," she said.

"I registered my kids and myself and we used to go every other day to the swimming pool to have a shower there, because every single time we had a shower all the water came from the bath through to the piano."

Ms Munozgracia said the only solution was for Sheffield Council to "empty the whole building, fix it properly and make it up to living standards".

Hulaymatou Bah said living in the flat "makes me depressed"

Hulaymatou Bah, who has lived in a flat in Winn Gardens since January 2016 with her three children aged 17, 15 and two, said the property had extensive mould and water regularly leaked into the flat below.

Ms Bah, a care worker, added: "The mould is bothering me. Every week we are at the GP because my daughter is always coughing. My daughter's bedroom is bad.

"Sometimes she has antibiotics. My health is getting bad, too."

Ms Bah said: "I phoned the council in December and they only came yesterday to fix it, and they didn't even clean it properly. They just put some paint on it and went.

"They just said, you're not opening your windows enough, but I am. I think they need to demolish this house. It's not fit for anyone to live in this house."

Ms Bah added that she had health issues including arthritis and depression and living in the flat "makes me depressed".

"I never imagined they would let people live in these conditions," she said.

Mould can be seen around the window frames in some of the bedrooms at the flats in Winn Gardens

Responding, a spokesman for Sheffield City Council said: "As a council we receive reports in some of our properties.

"Where this is reported, for example in places like Winn Gardens, we carry out work to address this."

That included "early mitigation work such as anti-mould and damp-proof painting, alongside roofing and ventilation repairs", the spokesman said.

He added: "This year, the council approved £450m investment over the next five years in improving the council’s property stock as part of the 2024-2025 budget."

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