A family of six who shares a bedroom in a mould-ridden flat have been told they may have to wait 13 years to move elsewhere.
Mohamed Abubakar, has been on the housing list since 2002 and shares the home in Tower Hamlets, East London, with his wife Rasha Al-Buriahi, and their four children, including a one-year-old baby.
He has been bidding for four-bedroom houses since 2017, but was told at the time that families would have to wait for an average of 13 years for such a place.
If that forecast proves to be true, the couple’s eldest daughter, nine, will be approaching her twenties by the time they move into a bigger property.
Mr Abubakar told MyLondon: ‘Every week I’m bidding, my question is where are all the houses going?
‘How do all these people have priority, more than us?
‘Some people have less children and they are a priority and get a new home – we don’t get anything.’
The family has also been asking for three-bedroom houses since 2020, but is told that waiting list stretches for nine years.
Currently, the six sleep together in a room with one large double bed and two single beds on either side.
They also eat in the bedroom, spreading a makeshift picnic mat over the floor for their dinner each night.
Mould can be seen creeping out from the edges of the ceiling in the flat, which is owned by local property group Gateway Housing Association.
To stop their belongings being damaged by the fungus, the family stuffs them into pillowcases.
But Mrs Al-Buriahi was shaken by the story of Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his parents’ one-bedroom flat.
She said: ‘When I saw his story, I choked. Why isn’t anything being done for my children?
‘For three days I couldn’t sleep. I choked up because a child died.’
A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets Council said overcrowding was a serious issue in the area due to a ‘chronic lack of genuinely affordable homes’.
The proportion of homes in the borough that are classed as overcrowded is three times the national average, she said.
The spokeswoman added: ‘We’ve set an ambitious target of delivering 1,000 new affordable homes per year, with a focus on family-sized homes.
‘We’re also looking at ways to ease overcrowding using measures like knock-throughs and extensions.
‘We encourage the family to speak to a housing officer about what alternative options may be available to them, like joining our Intermediate Housing Register.’
A spokesperson for Gateway Housing Association said: ‘[We are] aware that Mr Abubakar and Mrs Al-Buriahi and their family are on the London Borough of Tower Hamlet’s waiting list for a suitable home.
‘In the meantime, we have surveyed the home they reside at, and are taking immediate steps to address the mould.’
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