Mum and son given ‘broken’ bungalow by agency Disabled woman ‘fell through floor’

ADISABLED woman “fell through the floor” and her son had to go to the toilet in a bucket in a “broken” bungalow they were given by a housing agency.

Dawn Greenwood, 54, suffers with fibromyalgia and arthritis, as well as poor mental health.

She and her son Darren were moved to a bungalow in Southport through One Vision Housing.

Darren said the pair moved due to “neighbourhood issues” in their previous home.

The 32-year-old said the new property was “crumbling and broken” – however One Vision said Darren viewed and agreed the home before moving in, and that no issues were raised.

Darren said: “We moved in to the house on Balmoral Drive on the Thursday (January 28), and the next day mum fell through the floorboards in the hallway.

“Luckily I was nearby and could pull her up, but she really hurt her ankle and I’ve injured my back by grabbing her.

“If I hadn’t been there, though, it would probably have been so much worse.

“One Vision sent someone out immediately to be fair to them, but the guy said the joists were not sufficient, therefore not safe.

“He repaired the patch [in the hallway] but there were cracks in every room and you could literally see the floor dipping in.”

Darren said he rang the One Vision emergency line on the Friday evening and emailed photos of the cracking floor, too. But nothing could be done on a Friday night.

Luckily, Darren said, he still had the keys to their previous home and the notice had not yet run out, so they have moved back there.

Darren added: “We don’t want to live here. We’ve had to pay moving costs twice, just to be back somewhere we aren’t happy living.

“One Vision has offered to make the new home safe but it’s too late, it should have been safe prior to two disabled people moving in. Not to mention we couldn’t afford another move.”

Darren also says he was having to use a bucket as he couldn’t access the bathroom, and that One Vision told him it could be 12 weeks before any adaptations were made to the property.

One Vision Housing said it is committed to providing safe and secure homes for customers, and that they will continue to work with Darren and Dawn to make sure their housing needs are met.

A spokeswoman for the housing agency said: “Our homes undergo a series of quality checks during the handover process.

“No issues were raised during these checks or when the customer viewed the home; however repair requests were raised by the customer after moving in, and we can confirm that these requests have all been attended to.

“Adaptation requests were also made for this property and we advised the customer that these works would be subject to our standard aids and adaptations process, which involves a review panel in addition to a series of surveys.

“In this instance the customer chose to move back to his previous property, and we helped to facilitate this for him and his family.

“Our dedicated team will continue to work and communicate with the family to ensure their housing needs are met.”