A young Brighton family has told of the horror of being housed in a housing block riddled with violence and squalor for almost a year.
Removals man Blake Redman, waitress Mia Pickitt and their one-year-old son Harley were moved into Windsor Court by Brighton and Hove City Council when they were made homeless last May, and since then have been desperate to leave.
On one occasion, they say, a neighbour was stabbed in the stomach outside their front door, and on another a drunken resident barged into their flat and tried to pick up their son.
And their possessions are ruined within months of being kept there because of damp and mould – which a council officer told them was due to their having too much stuff in the flat after they put a wardrobe in the bedroom.
They say they were told they would be rehoused within a month – but nearly a year on, they’ve received no offers of alternative housing and the council says they’re likely to be there for at least another six months.
Mr Redman said: “Our home is riddled with damp, so we have a choice of smelling weed all day long, or our clothes and belongings smelly with mildew and damp.
“Another big problem we have here is violence, all around us there is people shouting and swearing all the time.
“My sister came to visit us one day, and as she was leaving, there was a load of shouting and screaming, I ran out of our flat to find two other neighbours fighting, one pulled out a knife and stabbed the other one in the stomach.
“You just don’t feel safe here, the council keep saying to us, that this is just temporary, a whole year we have been here now, it’s a joke.
“Every time I leave to go to work, I worry about what could happen to my family while I am at work.”
Blake, 23, and Mia, 22, were living with Mia’s parents in Hollingbury but when Harley was born in June 2013, it soon became clear there was not enough room for them there.
They have tried to find somewhere to rent privately, and even got as far as getting a deposit together for a property in Peacehaven before the landlord found out their low incomes meant they would be relying on housing benefit – a stumbling block which has put most rental homes out of their reach.
A spokesman for the council said it could not comment on this particular case in the pre-election period.
However, it did address the wider issue when asked to respond to Caroline Lucas’s criticism of its use of Windsor Court for emergency accommodation last month, when she called it “damp, dark and depressing”
A spokesman then said: “Because of the steep rise in homelessness in the past four years some residents have been living at Windsor Court for longer than we would have liked, but most for fewer than six months.
“We are constantly looking to provide a higher quality of accommodation for homeless households. However, the demand for housing generally far exceeds supply in the city and is likely to do so for some considerable time.
“Indeed, we have about 20,000 households on our waiting list, and this week only 47 council and housing association homes were available to let. Of these, only 12 were family sized homes.”
Baron Homes, which owns and lets out Windsor Court, last week told of the challenges of housing tenants who had been blacklisted by other private landlords and had a range of drug and alcohol issues.
It highlighted an incident in January in which a maintenance man was stabbed in the neck with a syringe.
I’m am the mother of Blake Redman and grandmother of harley. I have seen my son living in a hell hole for the last year. They can’t open their windows because of the smell of weed and there is constant violence including a stabbing and a syringe in someone’s neck. The last straw for me was when a drunken stranger barged into their flat and attempted to take my grandson and made sexual advances towards my daughter in law. No family should be put in this hell hole!
I too have experienced the ‘horrors’ of WINDSOR COURT with my 3 yr old,at the time, it is too true about the nothing short of REVOLTING living conditions ,
The damp & mildew that is constantly painted over by the ‘caretaker’ (who incidentally drives,or did drive, a new BMW with private plate) ….& then omits noxious fumes as it slides off the walls due to chronic condensation & damp, ….when I was presented with a room to reside in with my child there, I exclaimed I wouldn’t put a DOG in such an environment, let alone a child , thankfully it is but a distant memory now – but what is even more DISGUSTING is the £225.00 PER WEEK that ‘BARON HOMES’ charge the council (that’s the minimum amount per bedsit -others are more)……when you stand looking at WINDSOR COURT & observe just how many of these bedsits there are -being charged at this rate by BARON HOMES it is mind blowing at their weekly income from these squalid,mould riden dumps…..you do the math.
Nothing short of DISGUSTING
I agree winsor court is a hole ppl get put there n told only be month or two then still there year plus later its not safe for ppl wiv children as full of drugies n drunks they no ppl have no choice n thats there last resort more ppl need better housing
I too have experienced the terror of living at Windsor court 8 years ago and it appears that nothing has changed! I was moved there after my private let landlord took back his property, I was six months pregnant and lived there until my son was 10 months old. Stabbings, robbery and drug addled tenants were prevalent then too. The lift never worked, the metal stairs were very dangerous on wet days. All of my baby’s new things succumbed to mold before he was born meaning I had to turn to charity for a cot mattress. The futon I had to sleep on was damp and mouldy.we would leave every morning and stay at the children’s centre as long as we could to avoid the regular bouts of drunks and the drug addicted. Every night you could not sleep through the noise. Not to mention that the supposed caretaker used to let himself in when we were bathing. Also I kept the receipt so when the ‘bosses’ came around claiming I had not paid the deposit, I could prove I had. Many families find themselves stuck here with people who need accommodation more suited to their support needs and its despicable that it’s still happening. I hope you get out soon.
Living here is a complete nightmare… been there since September after a fire in our private rented home… the outlook is bleak. I leave at 7 30 each morning with my five year old daughter to go to work and guaranteed on my way out and back in at 6pm there is some mouthy prick with a can on their hand. The place was freezing over winter as none of the windows and doors shut properly. You heat the water up for it to run a bath no more than a few inches deep before it runs cold, and the water only dribles out of the tap. When I moved in there was a bed with a matteress covered in blood and crap and the floor was sticky. The walls feel greesy. People ring the buzzer at all times its no place for families. Called the council the other day… 18 months before I will get out and in the words of the kind person i spoke to i need to ‘put up and shut up’ Feel like I am serving a sentence. I feel for anyone staying here!!
I’m in Windsor court. Have been for five months, my son has now got asthma since living in this building my son went from bubbly and outgoing child into a lethargic and stressed child. All our belongings are now mouldy. On one occasion I was told the pups was because I didn’t “ventilated” my property enough however through the horrible windy winter my flat never reached more then 9degrees I have recordings of lower temperatures over this winter, it wasn’t until January when I asked for a “suitability ” ass that they rang me and moved me down stairs into a smaller flat where now I have to share a bed with my three year old. I have no ventalation in my bathroom meaning this is now also mouldy. Despite the council knowing this were still cramped, our belongings are still mouldy unreplaced by baron homes who remain unsympathetic.not to mention the fact that on the two occasions I’ve been moved by the council I’ve been given hours to do so, a single mother with physical inabilities. Then when I left belongings in the flat I’d moved out of they left my belongings in the flat after finding them and simply gave them to the new tennant, not that I now live only five floors down!!
Not to mention the thousands of pounds made from this building each month, the staff are incompetent and rude and show no remorse. The staff simply paint over mould and house someone else in the flats not dealing or solving the matters at hand that this building was condemned by the council back when it was an army Barack yet baron homes went on to buy this building add a lift and tell us we have to call it home! What a joke
I lived here for 6 months and they were the worst 6 months of my life fearing if i would live that day from all the crime from stabbings and flats being broken into it was vile i had no heating my heart was the over the mold and damp is out of control its vile i was heavily pregnent with steps outside i fell more than once being on the 5th floor is quite hard heavily pregnant no lift and soon as i was offered a property i took it two weeks before my som was born only given a day too do so with no help and now im stuck in a 1 bed flat i didnt really want that is just as damp and moldy but the council dont care that there is 4 people in one room the council really dont care about any one
I lived here 8 years ago with my 3 month old at the Time, I was told I would only be there for 6 weeks was there for a year and in that time there was armed police out side some ones flat for toweeks also someone in there hung them self, my bedroom window got smashed in the middle of the night why me and my baby was sleeping there was people argue and fighting all the time out side my door. The flat was freezing damp and mouldy
Whos idea was it , that in the present climate of cuts to vunerable peoples support services , we should spend millions of pounds on the i360 .
I was in there 8yrs ago when I was heavily pregnant, was horrible sounded like doors being kicked in every night ect, one day I came bk to find who ever owns the place had let themselves in to mine to change my front door no one told me it was happening. It’s a horrible place I know the council are limited to homes ect but think they need to rethink the types they put in there, hope you get a move soon x
My daughter in law lives their with my granddaughter and it’s awful . I do worry about them . It’s cold and damp. She’s only been their since January and the cot has mould along with anything else .. I really feel for u all as its not safe with drunks and drug addicts . Maybe you should all get together and go to the council all together . I hope you all find new homes soon
I was there 7 years ago on my own with a baby. One night I was woken by the desperate screams of a woman who had been told she would not be housed by the council so her only choice was to stay in Windsor Court until she could find a deposit which is impossible when rent was £220 per week. Sadly she decided that jumping from the stairs railing was her best way out. I will never forget that image. This place is he’ll on earth.
I’m in hospital at the moment just getting over pneumonia . I’d been sofa surfing and staying in my car until my admission . I’m now waiting for a kidney transplant . I’ve already had 3 other organs transplanted years ago. Now I’m almost ready to leave hospital they want to put me into Windsor ct but I’d rather sleep in my car even more si after reading the comments