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| A vulnerable woman. A derelict home. Day 20 without running water | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| In Alicia’s tiny attic flat (“like a doll’s house,” as she puts it) in Lewisham, south London, she has reached day 20 without running water. | In Alicia’s tiny attic flat (“like a doll’s house,” as she puts it) in Lewisham, south London, she has reached day 20 without running water. |
| Since her landlord started to gut the two empty floors below her last year, the 55-year-old has been living on top of a building site. Scaffolding covers the outside of the three-storey house, a criss-cross of boards and metal poles metres high. The entrance hall ceilings are stripped bare, naked wires hanging down. | Since her landlord started to gut the two empty floors below her last year, the 55-year-old has been living on top of a building site. Scaffolding covers the outside of the three-storey house, a criss-cross of boards and metal poles metres high. The entrance hall ceilings are stripped bare, naked wires hanging down. |
| The flat’s electricity comes and goes: put the heating on and the circuit overloads. Two buckets and a hose sit near the front door on the ground floor, offered to her as a makeshift water supply. | The flat’s electricity comes and goes: put the heating on and the circuit overloads. Two buckets and a hose sit near the front door on the ground floor, offered to her as a makeshift water supply. |
| To wash, Alicia has to carry water from the bucket downstairs up to the attic, then boil it. It’s too dirty for human consumption, so every other day she has to get drinking water from her nearest friend’s home, two bus rides away: she puts four empty bottles in a suitcase, travels for an hour on the buses, walks to her friend’s house, fills each of the bottles up, and then lugs the suitcase and water back to her flat. | To wash, Alicia has to carry water from the bucket downstairs up to the attic, then boil it. It’s too dirty for human consumption, so every other day she has to get drinking water from her nearest friend’s home, two bus rides away: she puts four empty bottles in a suitcase, travels for an hour on the buses, walks to her friend’s house, fills each of the bottles up, and then lugs the suitcase and water back to her flat. |
| Alicia has mental health problems – anxiety with suicidal tendencies, body dysphoria and obsessive compulsive disorder – and living conditions that would be distressing for anyone, are torture to her. “I hate it,” she says, her voice shaking. “I feel so out of control.” | Alicia has mental health problems – anxiety with suicidal tendencies, body dysphoria and obsessive compulsive disorder – and living conditions that would be distressing for anyone, are torture to her. “I hate it,” she says, her voice shaking. “I feel so out of control.” |
| She goes to Lewisham council’s offices to ask for help: she gets there at 9am, 90 minutes before the first appointment to get the first ticket and waits all day. “Every time I go down there, I end up crying,” she says. “They don’t listen to me.” | She goes to Lewisham council’s offices to ask for help: she gets there at 9am, 90 minutes before the first appointment to get the first ticket and waits all day. “Every time I go down there, I end up crying,” she says. “They don’t listen to me.” |
| As we talk, Alicia is notably hoarse. She’s a survivor of sexual and physical abuse and her voice shows the physical damage. “From the strangling,” she explains. Psychologically, the damage runs deeper: on top of an anxiety around being clean, she’s terrified around male strangers, to the extent that her medical records state it’s impossible for her to share a bathroom. But over the past month, the council has tried to push Alicia to two shared accommodations: one already occupied by a couple, and another with mould patches on the walls, a broken toilet and four other tenants, but no locks on the doors. Both properties happen to be owned by her current landlord. | As we talk, Alicia is notably hoarse. She’s a survivor of sexual and physical abuse and her voice shows the physical damage. “From the strangling,” she explains. Psychologically, the damage runs deeper: on top of an anxiety around being clean, she’s terrified around male strangers, to the extent that her medical records state it’s impossible for her to share a bathroom. But over the past month, the council has tried to push Alicia to two shared accommodations: one already occupied by a couple, and another with mould patches on the walls, a broken toilet and four other tenants, but no locks on the doors. Both properties happen to be owned by her current landlord. |
| In the centre of the capital’s housing crisis, tenants like Alicia are little more than a commodity for profit. Four years ago, she took this flat because she was desperate: her old private rental, a basement below a betting shop in Brixton, had no ventilation and “everything was rotting”. From the minute she moved in to the attic, the electrics were botched. She had to pay to get two safe plugs connected. She’s never had hot water, even before the building work started. The skylight in the hallway leaks and when it rains she has to line the hall with pots. “If I don’t get home in time, it’s flooded,” she says. Still, rent gets paid: £800 a month from Lewisham council in housing benefit. | In the centre of the capital’s housing crisis, tenants like Alicia are little more than a commodity for profit. Four years ago, she took this flat because she was desperate: her old private rental, a basement below a betting shop in Brixton, had no ventilation and “everything was rotting”. From the minute she moved in to the attic, the electrics were botched. She had to pay to get two safe plugs connected. She’s never had hot water, even before the building work started. The skylight in the hallway leaks and when it rains she has to line the hall with pots. “If I don’t get home in time, it’s flooded,” she says. Still, rent gets paid: £800 a month from Lewisham council in housing benefit. |
| Alicia has mental health problems, and living conditions that would be distressing for anyone are torture to her | Alicia has mental health problems, and living conditions that would be distressing for anyone are torture to her |
| “And the council knew about all the problems,” she says. “But nothing gets done.” | “And the council knew about all the problems,” she says. “But nothing gets done.” |
| I speak to Caroline, a volunteer community worker, who’s been trying to help Alicia get a response from Lewisham council. She shows me copies of emails she’s sent, one after another. “The house is literally being pulled down around her,” she says. “But the council know this and they still aren’t doing anything about it.” | I speak to Caroline, a volunteer community worker, who’s been trying to help Alicia get a response from Lewisham council. She shows me copies of emails she’s sent, one after another. “The house is literally being pulled down around her,” she says. “But the council know this and they still aren’t doing anything about it.” |
| After pressure from Caroline and a legal aid solicitor, last week an environmental health officer from the council finally inspected Alicia’s flat. As a result, on Friday, Lewisham sent her to temporary accommodation: a hostel, filled with men, drinking and screaming. Alicia spent the night awake, huddled on the bed, unable to go to the shared toilet. By the morning, she was in the middle of a suicidal episode and had to call Caroline and get a taxi to take her home. “I was petrified,” she says. “I’d rather have no water than be scared.” | After pressure from Caroline and a legal aid solicitor, last week an environmental health officer from the council finally inspected Alicia’s flat. As a result, on Friday, Lewisham sent her to temporary accommodation: a hostel, filled with men, drinking and screaming. Alicia spent the night awake, huddled on the bed, unable to go to the shared toilet. By the morning, she was in the middle of a suicidal episode and had to call Caroline and get a taxi to take her home. “I was petrified,” she says. “I’d rather have no water than be scared.” |
| A Lewisham council spokesperson confirmed they were asked to visit to “verify the issues” with Alicia’s current landlord and have done so. “As a result of the findings of this visit, [Alicia] was placed in temporary accommodation which she has since vacated,” they added. “[Alicia’s] health needs in relation to her housing are currently being assessed and will be followed up with her care team. Her case is ongoing.” | A Lewisham council spokesperson confirmed they were asked to visit to “verify the issues” with Alicia’s current landlord and have done so. “As a result of the findings of this visit, [Alicia] was placed in temporary accommodation which she has since vacated,” they added. “[Alicia’s] health needs in relation to her housing are currently being assessed and will be followed up with her care team. Her case is ongoing.” |
| The council’s environmental health officer gave Alicia’s landlord four working days to reinstate her water supply, Caroline says. That deadline passed on Tuesday. It means, in practice, that a vulnerable woman has been left in a derelict building site without running water. | The council’s environmental health officer gave Alicia’s landlord four working days to reinstate her water supply, Caroline says. That deadline passed on Tuesday. It means, in practice, that a vulnerable woman has been left in a derelict building site without running water. |
| “I just want to be far away from here,” Alicia says. “My health is getting worse.” | “I just want to be far away from here,” Alicia says. “My health is getting worse.” |
| • Names have been changed | • Names have been changed |