A vulnerable resident living in substandard accommodation has been rehoused thanks to Caerphilly Observer.
Emma Rowlands turned to us in desperation after trying for eight months to get the damp and lack of heating and hot water sorted out in her Blackwood home.
The last straw for 36-year-old Emma was when a plumber turned up on Saturday April 7 and took the motherboard out of her boiler and told her it would be replaced the following Wednesday, leaving her without heating and hot water for five days.
Emma moved to the downstairs flat in the High Street last August because she could not manage the stairs to her first floor flat.
Caerphilly Observer understands that Cartrefi Hafod, part of the Hafod Housing Association, moved Emma, who has suffered with spina bifida since birth and has been in a wheelchair for the past two years, into the ground floor flat.
But according to Emma the downstairs flat was damp and she has tried unsuccessfully ever since to get the housing association to deal with it as she suffers from chronic asthma.
“We have had to move the bed into the living room as the bedroom is so cold and damp.
“We have reported the damp lots of times and we have been told it would be dealt with but nothing has been done,” Emma said.
before she was moved to her new home
Emma has reported the matter to the council’s environmental health team and an inspector visited the flat and sent their report to Cartrefi Hafod.
A spokeswoman for Caerphilly County Borough Council confirmed that an officer from its Environmental Health team visited on March 22 and compiled a report, highlighting 13 observations/defects.
The council’s letter detailing the issues was sent to Carfrefi Hafod the same day.
To compound the problem for Emma,who lives in the flat with her partner,the boiler has not worked properly from day one.
The malfunctioning boiler is also located in the bedroom she is not using because of the damp.
“The boiler has been off and on since I moved in. The heating cuts out after 20 minutes and to run hot water I have to turn the heating off.
“We have reported it lots of times and each time somebody comes in to look at it they say the whole boiler needs to be replaced.”
Caerphilly Observer put the issues to Cartrefi Hafod and within hours of our phone calls and emails we were told the association were arranging to move Emma.