'This place isn't safe': Military families fear mould in service accommodation is impacting their children's health
Military families have told Forces News about their concerns over black mould in their service accommodation and the effects they believe it is having on their children's health.
Last year, Armed Forces families took to social media to share frustrations about broken boilers, a lack of heating and having to live in homes affected by mould.
Just over a week into the New Year, and a fresh wave of complaints have been made about the state of standard military accommodation.
Dannii, who has a partner in the Navy, said she noticed dirty water coming through their wall whenever the toilet in the upstairs flat flushed, and told Forces News she thinks her daughter's health is being affected by mould in her bedroom.
"She's currently on three different inhalers for suspected asthma, however, at this point, we don't think it is asthma, we think it's the... mould in her bedroom," she said.
"When you go into her room... it just smells horrible. It's embarrassing for us to live here and have people round."
Dannii also said she feels really "let down" by the response to their complaints.
"When you've got a little girl who's restricted in her own house, she can't play freely in the bedroom, she can't go into the bathroom – we just feel really let down.
"My partner's serving our country. We should at least be given a safe place to live and this place isn't safe," she added.
Another military spouse, Louise, whose husband has served in the British Army for the last 22 years, told Forces News the mould in her bathroom "is so bad".
"Even when it's treated and painted, it's back within six weeks," she said. "It's affecting my son.
"He did have a hospital stay a few years ago and they were adamant it was the dampness."
Some people didn't want to appear on camera but got in touch to tell Forces News about their issues.
Stephen said his daughter asked him if "the black marks in her room are what's making her poorly", whilst Karen said their boiler has broken and there will be a three-week wait for the family before it can be fixed.
"We have a friend whose boiler fell through the ceiling," she said.
Chris told Forces News his kids were "petrified" as "all they hear at night is scratching in the walls and the attic" with vermin.
The companies responsible for looking after service accommodation, Amey and Vivo, were told by the Government last year they need to sort themselves out or face financial repercussions.
An Amey spokesperson said it "takes its responsibilities to support service personnel and their families extremely seriously".
"Unfortunately some older military housing can experience damp, particularly in winter," they said.
"We are very aware of the impact this can have on residents and make it a priority to respond once issues are flagged to us.
"Where the issue involves a heating breakdown we ensure that an alternative heat supply is available within 12 hours.
"We apologise to anyone experiencing undue delays and are committed to working with the DIO (Defence Infrastructure Organisation) and other suppliers to address the challenges.
"We have now enhanced our capabilities and are increasing the number of maintenance response staff we have."
Vivo said "every armed service family that we support has the right to a home that is warm, safe and well-maintained".
"This is incredibly important to us and we are making good progress in resolving the recent issues that some of the families have experienced," they said.
"We have deployed additional people and resources to achieve this, and we are working closely with Pinnacle, who operate the National Service Centre, to ensure we deliver a consistent and reliable service."
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) issued a statement, saying: "We have a robust plan in place to deal with damp and mould, backed by £73m this financial year, and we do not allow the allocation of a home while it has this problem."
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