WE’RE LIVING IN A PIGSTY
Bloodstains on the mattress, damp and dirty conditions, no cooking or laundry facilities and an 11pm curfew .. Working couple describe ‘nightmare’ life in city hostel
HARD-WORKING families have complained they are still being forced to endure filthy, damp and dangerous conditions in a “pigsty” hostel.
The Record previously exposed the dire state of Abbot’s House bed and breakfast, with guests complaining of filthy bedrooms and disgusting toilets.
Recent residents say they have been forced to put up with bloodstained beds and mattresses, no cooking or laundry facilities and an 11pm curfew.
A working couple, who moved into the hostel after they became homeless last year, say they had to throw out more than £1500 of food because there are no proper storage facilities or a fridge.
The resident said: “We were made homeless in September through no fault of our own. We were put in the hostel and it’s been a total nightmare.
“The place is a pigsty. It’s not fit for human habitation, to be quite honest.
“We live in absolute squalor. I suffer from a heart condition which makes things a lot worse.
“My health is a concern but we have no cooking facilities so it’s a struggle to eat healthily.
“We are left to eat microwave meals or takeaways.
“You can only use the microwave between 7pm and 10pm. That’s no use for people like me.
“I work in transport and I’m generally working between those times so if I want to eat, I can eat nothing apart from takeaways.
“There is also an 11pm curfew and you are moaned at if you are five or 10 minutes late but this is sometimes unavoidable due to the traffic or seeing your family after work.”
The resident said their bed was covered in bloodstains. They said: “Our bed is filthy. I sleep on top of a giant bloodstain on the mattress. There are also no storage facilities.
“You can’t eat fresh because you can’t keep anything.
“If you want a buttered sandwich, you have to buy a whole tub of butter which does to waste. Same goes for fresh produce. We have thrown away over £1500 worth of food since we’ve been here.
“At a recent health check, I got told that my cholesterol was through the roof due to all the bad food we have to eat.
“How can we afford to eat healthily when they expect £183 a week and don’t even provide
It’s not fit for human habitation. We live in absolute squalor HOSTEL RESIDENT ON CONDITIONS
cooking facilities? One night I got home at 11pm due to work and I asked to order food and was told no.
“I could have smashed this place up in a rage. They are effectively controlling our lives. I have contacted the council a few times but I don’t even get a reply.”
In January, dozens of families joined a demonstration to raise awareness of the plight faced by those having to live in the hostel in Edinburgh’s Leith.
City of Edinburgh Council use the facility to accommodate emergency homeless in the
city. The protest highlighted the predicament of many of the families who have been evicted due to benefit cuts and soaring rent prices in the capital.
At least 15 single mums and 40 children were evicted over a three-month period in 2017, with many still being housed in temporary accommodation.
The Record told in August how mum-of-three Ann Wedderburn was forced to move to the Abbot’s House Hotel from a private flat after falling into rent arrears due to a benefit cut.
Ann and her three children had to sleep in the same room, which had a double bed and two singles.
She claimed there were no laundry facilities or fridges and said occupants of the 70 rooms had access to only one filthy microwave.
Ann told how the family had to share a bathroom at the end of a corridor with other guests – many of them single men.
A spokesman for the Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty said: “Provide more genuine social housing for rent so no one has to stay in homeless B&Bs.”