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Serge Diehi with his children Christian, Eros and Seefania before the repairs |
‘Thanks, home is a hole lot better!’
Housing association acts within days of New Journal query to end family’s damp nightmare
FOR two months, Serge Diehi and his family lived in a flat riddled with damp and a gaping hole in the ceiling, his pleas for help going unanswered by his housing association landlords.
Yet just days after the New Journal made queries about his family’s plight, the problems were suddenly fixed.
Paddington Churches Housing Association (PCHA) insisted the sudden action had nothing to do with the intervention by reporters and that they were aware the problem needed fixing.
But Mr Diehi said he was getting nowhere in Euston until a New Journal photographer captured the extent of the problem at the flat in Longford Street.
He said: “When there’s a problem PCHA do not move. Now there’s a big problem, you call and they come.”
Earlier this month, Mr Diehi’s seven-year-old daughter Seefania slept with part of her bedroom ceiling missing, while his sons Eros, 10, and Christian, 4, were driven from their bedroom by mould.
The three children shared their parents’ double bed while Mr Diehi and his wife Leonie slept on sofas in the living room.
Mr Diehi, who worked as a mechanic in Italy before moving to England last year, claims that whenever he called PCHA, which is owned by the Genesis Housing Group, operators would not listen.
Genesis, which owns and manages just under 40,000 in London and around 3,000 in Camden, denied ignoring the problem.
A spokeswoman said: “The PCHA surveyor who has the in-depth knowledge of the fabric and structure of the building was on leave which hindered the contractor’s efforts. We were dealing with it.”
Mr Diehi, originally from the Ivory Coast, moved to England because he wanted a better life for his children and to learn English.
“When I came to England I was happy because England is lovely. It’s an ethnic place,” he said.
“I see in my children, they’re happy and I’m happy. Every day my children want to go to school because they like it.”
A PCHA press officer said: “We are very sorry for the problems that this family have experienced.” |
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