Category: Drylaw Telford

LOCAL PARENTS LAUNCH DAMNING REPORT ON HOUSING CRISIS

North Edinburgh Parents Action Group has launched an exhibition and publication highlighting the horrific housing conditions local people are being forced to live in. 

The group also screened a new film about the lived experience of a local woman’s heart-breaking attempts to secure a decent home for her children.   

North Edinburgh Parents Group hope that the event held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre yesterday will draw attention to the significant impact that  poor housing  is having on  local families’ physical and mental health and will send a clear message to politicians at all levels of government that urgent action is required to tackle North Edinburgh’s housing crisis. 

Guests were welcomed by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre chairperson Billy Fitzpatrick and the event was launched by Forth SNP councillor Stuart Dobbin, who has been taking a particular interest and holding surgeries on the issue:

“Living in a home safe from Damp and Mould should be a basic right that all Council and Private tenants should enjoy.

“This important event was made all the more powerful and moving by hearing the testimony of women who, with their families, have to live with Damp and Mould and the exhibition showing pictures from inside their homes.

“Dampness creates a risk to our physical health and our mental health.  It impacts on the future life chances of our children.  And if not addressed, it places additional burdens on our doctors and the wider NHS services.

“This is the issue that I am most passionate about addressing as a Councillor.  By my estimate about one quarter of all Council dampness cases in Edinburgh are in North Edinburgh. 

“I have been raising cases and campaigning within the Council for faster action to be taken to eradicate damp from tenants homes, and as a result, the Council has now set up a dedicated, skilled team to do just that. Early days and a lot to do.

“I want to hear from residents who have damp and mould, or are having difficulty getting the problems addressed. 

“I will be at Pilton Community Health Project tomorrow morning (Friday) from 09.15-11.00 if anyone needs to discuss this or any other matter that I can help with.  Or you can email me – cllr.stuart.dobbin@edinburgh.gov.uk”

Few who attended the event could fail to have been moved by the heart-rending stories of local woman struggling to be heard. The women, for many of whom English is not their first language, bravely shared their dreadful experiences to a packed room.

As one said after the event: “Speaking to a big crowd made me very nervous and I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do it.

“But we all did do it – we had to do it. We want people to hear how we are living.”

A spokesperson for the group said: “We understand that there are no simple solutions or easy fixes to Edinburgh’s  current housing emergency.

“However, Edinburgh is one of the richest cities in the country and it is time that all levels of government – Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Government and the UK government –  come together and prioritise spending on improving  housing conditions in this city. 

“We are serious about our demands and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to secure a decent place to live.  We hope that we do not have to resort to a class action which is the route that over 50 tenants from various local authorities have taken in order to secure a warm, safe home.   

“However, nothing is off the table. Enough is enough!”

Sara, who spoke at the event, said: “We welcomed the opportunity to tell our stories and have our voices heard. 

“We’re fed up of nobody listening to us and being blamed for causing the problem.  It’s not our fault. It’s well documented that people have been having problems with dampness and mould down here for decades and its time that  something was done about it for once and for all”. 

Susan, another member of the group, added: “We are really disappointed that the ‘high heid yins’ didn’t come to our event to hear our stories and see for themselves the conditions that people are  having to  put up with. 

“We will be making sure that they all get a copy of our report and we will be expecting to hear from them soon about how they are going to respond to our demands. They need to understand that  we’re not going away.” 

Dr Olivia Swann, Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Infectious Disease at Edinburgh University, also spoke at the event. 

Thanking the women for their moving testimonies, Olivia’s presentation explained how homes are much more than just physical structures and made clear that “strong scientific evidence has shown that poor housing can affect someone’s physical and mental health throughout their life”. 

Sara says this is an extremely worrying fact for those of us with young children who have been living in mouldy homes for most of their young lives.

Dawn Anderson, Director of Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP), who attended the event along with members of her Board, including former Leith MP/MSP and Holyrood Health Secretary Malcolm Chisholm, said: “We are very concerned about the problems the parents group has raised. 

“PCHP has been supporting people to get help for some time. One parent has been working with Media Education on a new film featuring the nine year battle of Anita, a local women, desperately trying to escape her damp house”.  

Dawn explained how it was fitting that the parents action group had called their exhibition ‘Home Sweet Home’: “It’s 40 years since PCHP was established in North Edinburgh and dampness and ill-health was one of the first issues the campaigners worked on.  Meetings with local parents led to a womens’ group forming. 

“They produced a slide show called “Home Sweet Home” and  presented it to health professionals in the area.  This resulted in The Scottish Executive backing a research project conducted by the University of Edinburgh  who established a direct link between dampness and ill-health all those years ago.

“There have been countless studies on this issue over the years  which have drawn the same conclusions. Sadly, we can see from Anita’s film and from the parents stories and photographs, little has changed and family’s in the area are still faced with health threatening living conditions.”

The Group is already planning a follow-up event to build on the momentum created by yesterday’s launch.

HOME

A poem by members of North Edinburgh Parents Action Group

The perfect home is

dry and warm

and doesn’t have mould or furniture on clothes.

It doesn’t

smell of dampness or chemicals or bleach

and there’s even

a drying area to dry your wet stuff.

It’s comfortable and safe and

doesn’t make you ill.

It isn’t overcrowded and

there’s plenty of room

for the kids to study and play

or just be alone.

In the perfect home

we’ve all got a bedroom

and there’s even a separate living room.

The perfect home doesn’t need lots of repairs

everything has been fixed and

is shiny and new.

But the best thing about it

and this we agree

our home is permanent

and is perfect for you and me.

The report: