Look at this poor man's council flat 😢

[charabanctrip]

And he lives here with his elderly carer (? mum) and a cat.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-59302526

By “pressure” I mean there are people who don’t want to live in the community - ie in a flat in their own - because they find it lonely and they can’t cope. As with this man.

The landlord has a lot to answer for, of course, but it begs the question why, in two years, would you not pay for a plumber to come and sort it out before it got to that state? I know you shouldn't have to, but dear God, take some responsibility for yourself instead of expecting others to do it for you.

It's a council flat and the council are responsible for the repairs.

Plumbers cost money, sometimes a lot of money. The tenants are vulnerable and obviously on benefits.

How callous do you have to be to make such a remark?

@Pennguin

It's horrendous but I suspect there is other stuff going on here as well. Looks like he's a hoarder and there are general hygiene issues. And as soon as the council found out what was going on and the state of disrepair he was moved. I've seen elderly people live like this in their own houses for various reasons so it's not necessarily the council's fault. Just very sad that they lived like this at all.

Yes. My friend was like this, but not quite as bad. He just didn't see it as a problem. He's in a nursing home now as he was no longer safe to stay there. Even with a package of care. It's the best place for him.

If the council had repaired it what 12m ago it wouldn’t be in that state. Do you think he lived like that before this for year then one day thought I know I get a camera crew in and complain about my living conditions. No not really!
The water was still dripping in multiply places you could hear the drops and the floor was inches thick in water what part of thy wasn’t the council fault? They even said themselves there were delays.

Adult social care have a lot to answer for here

This looks like a perfect storm of poor housing conditions and mental health issues. I used to work in domicilliary care, and so many people like this fall under the radar. They can't look after themselves, let alone the person they're registered as a carer for but a blind eye gets turned all the time.

If you rent privately, you get a landlord inspection every 6 months on average and it's shameful that council properties don't have the same - so things like this are picked up before they get this bad. Poor poor man.

@claymodels it's really tricky isn't it. My friend had capacity and did t see the issue. So social care wouldn't accept a referral.
So there is very little that you can actually do to intervene. Except stand by and be ready for when it reaches crisis point. Which is what happened.

It looks like the issue is his vulnerability and the complete inability of this older person to act as his carer has been missed.

Yes sometimes Has drop the ball, but a lot of the time when repairs escalate it's because they aren't reported in a timely manner, access isn't granted and / or tenants don't follow the advice.

If he had a competent carer (and that's not blame, it's fact. Sounds like his "carer" is elderly and vulnerable too) you'd be in be housing office daily if a leak was just running out and not being fixed. There wouldn't be rubbish everywhere. He wouldn't have been left in those conditions for months without it being escalated.

WOAH that's awful! Poor man. People making comments like 'he is lazy and slovenly and needs to sort himself out,' are out of order. This is CLEARLY not just the result of someone who is idle! He needs help NOW.

Oh my god. I clicked on it expecting it to have mould on the walls or an over flowing bin! That is horrific

In all likelihood this man’s carer is an elderly parent (75/80+?), who was maybe just about managing till ill-health/age took over.

I think many have no concept of the number of people ‘just managing’ or ‘almost managing’ with awful, awful circumstances. Mh issues, physical disabilities, poverty, lack of support, either from family or social services and other organisations. All exacerbated by the ongoing limitations around access to those services/GPs etc. Most of them under the radar for years.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how easily people struggling to cope independently, teetering on the edge, get pushed over by what many seem to regard as ultimately manageable problems such as leaks/damp/mould etc. The poor state of repair of the property may not be the whole story, but was probably the last straw for these people.

This is a result of adult social care being stripped the bone I imagine. Odds on the elderly carer is a parent, who no longer has physical, perhaps mental capacity. How awful for both of them. There needs for be some kind of safety net. For example council inspecting properties annually as a minimum.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/repairs-in-rented-housing/

Ultimately you can write to the landlord and tell them if repairs are not done within a deadline you will withhold rent and carry them out yourself.
This doesn't work with big expensive repairs though.
Photos and emails and a log of complaints are essential. If you can not manage this on your own then ask for help.
Local councillors, local MP and Shelter and CAB can always help.

www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/housing/hackney-family-left-live-with-mould-8206720

Another family fobbed off by Hackney Council.

Oh dear how awful, shame on you Hackney council

@charabanctrip

They're both vulnerable it seems. How effective can a carer be if they're elderly and living under those conditions?

This entirely.

There is such a little filtering process when it comes to 'carers'. The process can be as little as a next of kin or a box ticking operation online.

If he is registered as having a carer then I imagine the support offered is minimal.

It reads as though this man suffers from disabilities and MH problems and if the carer is his Mother I wonder perhaps if she does too or maybe if she's elderly she's simply struggling.

There needs to be regular care checks and assessment from social services and the council.

How ANYONE can live like this in the UK in 2021 goes beyond any description in the English language. Disgraceful doesn't even begin to cover it. This is a vulnerable man who has been allowed to grow more ill in fetid conditions.

The council are 'investigating' how this has happened. Someone is telling porkies because this gentleman has either been completely ignored or overlooked.

WHEN are we going to see the increase in social care funding we so desperately need? Outrageous. The poor household, cat included, I hope they receive the support and housing they require going forward.

the standards of social housing have deteriorated. The trouble is there is less housing and more people asking for housing help too. The private housing is no better; we pay nearly £600 for a house with 1980s fittings no double glazing etc. This man clearly needed support of someone like a Social Worker

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/vulnerable-man-electrocution-london-hackney-council-flat-b965484.html

More details about the man's situation here. The council never visited despite repeated requests.

@AnyFucker

Adult social care have a lot to answer for here

People so often say this, but a good many people who are hoarders and/or live in squalid or unsanitary conditions, don’t want help, and won’t let random strangers in. Older people especially can be very suspicious of social workers, thinking they will pry into their private affairs and maybe force them to leave their homes.

And unless someone has been officially deemed to lack mental capacity, help cannot be forced on them.

It happens a lot with dementia, and I dare say with other conditions where mental health is affected.

Sadly I think this is a failure of the adult services department - a social worker should have been supporting them to get the repairs done, arrange regular cleaning, help them sort out their lives etc.

Probably what has happened is that they were living under the radar, maybe a needs assessment was carried out a few years ago and they were found to be managing or didnt meet the criteria for accessing help. The council should have then kept under review and followed up. Maybe they refused help and so the council has no way of getting involved. Who knows maybe the local council just didnt know.

As a general note if you are concerned about people in your area, maybe neighbours etc, its worth raising your concerns with the council adult services department - they should have a helpline number on which you can alert them and then a social worker can go around to see what the problem is and what measures can be put in place to help

(Social worker speaking!)

Shocking . And where were Adult Services in all this? Had nobody - neighbours, the Housing Department, the Pharmacy, made a referral ?

@ObnoxiousFeminist

EH come down in private landlords like a tonne of bricks but don’t seem to give a shit about council owned homes.

Exactly this. No private landlord would get away with this. They would have the property taken off them long before getting to this stage. Local authorities and housing associations are no where near in as much scrutiny. Yet private landlords get all the bad press.

I’m not shocked.

Honestly as a hoarder I can tell you no one, and I mean NO ONE gives a shit. They only get involved when you’re a danger to others and best case? Staff turn up and bin every single thing you own. I’ve been told because I’m not ill enough for any other support environmental health will forcing their way in, sometime and I’m not allowed to know when, and bin every single item in my room. I’m not allowed to deny access. Last time they did that not only did I lose everything I suffered a breakdown.

The breakdown in mental health this is causing is my fault for being, and I quote from my “assessment” ‘simply filthy and lazy’. My GP has also refused to help, and is adding to my distress with other issues.

I’ve attempted suicide and been told if I was serious I’d have fried harder.

My social services assessment says I’m fine. It was done behind my back by someone who hadn’t seen me in eighteen months and signed off by a dr who hadn’t seen me in years and that was just a massive fight with an advocate as they claimed I was fine and just making stuff up and either went back to being abused or got a job - literally the report says “B is to use her terror at going back to abuse to get herself well and back into full time work” - if you advance search my name you’ll see the illnesses I have, and that it includes a generic deterioating one that’s terminal. But nope that’s not their opinion.

I’ve two side of A4 of charities who are supposed to help me instead of me “bothering social services”. You know what they’ve said? You’re too ill.

I had a good friend who was moved out of their HA property into a bail hostel after being released from a six month section. Why? Because the charity that were supporting her went bust and the HA went in and threw all of her stuff whilst she was in hospital. The HA didn’t contact social services, it was even in the paper they were taking their flat back. Would they engage with me? No. If she was really in hospital they would have been told. Before they would move her she was stabbed. She ended up addicted to drugs. This is someone who had for their entire lives spent several months every year on section in hospital and not been in the community off a section for decades. No one, aside from me and let’s face it you don’t get more worthless than me, gave a shit. Not her family no one.

The care here is charity workers for a year before being allowed an actual carer. Even then social services will do everything they can to stop a person getting a carer. Unless of course you can privately fund. The charities keep going bust leaving people without help as there’s no one actually keeping track of patients anymore. GPs here are no longer allowed to be allocated patients so there’s zero continuity there either.

Seriously nothing is as a simple as it looks.

And don’t me started on the bbc inability to report responsibly.

*tried harder.

@DottyHarmer

It is daft to draw conclusions just on one article. The level of mess and dirt in this flat is way more than a leak would cause. The man is not "old" (as a pp asserts) he is 55. So clearly has mental health difficulties, as probably does his carer to live with him like this.

The council cannot bodily force someone (or two people) out of their home if they choose to live like this. We have no idea how many times the council has been involved and to what extent. To put this flat to rights would require the occupants moving out, and possibly they refused to do this.

My friends mum with mental health problems was forced out of her flat by environmental health because it was unfit for human habitation.

I would also say this flat is a massive health and safety risk so nobody should be living there but who knows if the council knew it was this bad.

I hope the man and his carer get the help they need.