Sheffield families tell of fears over mould and damp health threat

Bashir Mohamed Hirsi said water dripping from a bedroom ceiling at his Sheffield home meant the family of six shared one bedroom

Residents in Sheffield council accommodation say damp and mould are having a worrying effect on their children's health.

One mother of three said damp had been so severe it made her children struggle to breathe.

It comes as figures show there are more than 1,000 mould cases requiring treatment in Sheffield council housing.

Sheffield City Council said it was concerned for the family's health and had contacted them to arrange repairs.

Halimo Abdi said a letter about the impact of damp had been sent from a consultant to Sheffield City Council more than a year ago

The BBC spoke to families a month after a coroner concluded Rochdale toddler Awaab Ishak died of a respiratory condition caused by mould and the family's housing association did nothing to solve the issue.

Halimo Abdi, who lives on Verdon Street, said her children regularly missed school because of illness caused by the damp conditions. "I was worried their lungs would just stop," she said.

A letter sent to Sheffield City Council from a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine in November 2021 recommended the damp problem should be solved, or the family should be moved out of the property.

Ms Abdi said she had complained to the council "more than a million times", but the council "had done nothing".

Sheffield City Council said it would arrange "urgent" visits to both the Hirsi family (left) and the Abdi family (right)

Meanwhile Bashir Mohamed Hirsi, a Somalian refugee whose family of six live on Margate Drive, said he had tried to complain about water dripping from a bedroom ceiling.

"The council don't give me an interpreter, even when I ask sometimes they ignore me," he said.

"They say to me they will come, but don't come," he added. Mr Hirsi said as a result of the wet conditions his whole family now slept in one room.

Ms Abdi said her children are sometimes too poorly to go to school because they struggle to breathe

Sheffield City Council said Mr Hirsi had not reported any "outstanding repairs". The council also said it had tried to contact Ms Abdi "over a number of months" and would arrange "urgent" visits to both homes.

The council currently has 286 outstanding damp and mould cases in its properties, with 1,112 mould cases requiring halophane treatment to kill the roots of mould, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Official figures showed there were 14,038 logged repairs, of which 6,193 were overdue, the service said.

Sheffield City Council had also set up a damp and mould task group to review and tackle cases across social and private housing, it added.