Mum's Christmas stress over hole in roof

A housing provider has apologised to a mother for the inconvenience caused by a delay in finishing repairs to a hole in her home's roof.

Kelisha Walker, from Willenhall said there had also been long-standing issues with damp and mould at the "freezing" property.

Earlier this month, the 26-year-old said the hole led to a crack appearing in her bedroom ceiling, where she slept with her six-month-old baby.

She claims workers initially gave her a bucket for leaks after removing a section of the ceiling, and said they would not return until January. GreenSquareAccord (GSA) said ceiling damage was fixed on Tuesday to make the property safe.

Pictures shared by Ms Walker show what she called a "big square hole" exposing the loft and daylight coming through the roof.

"I was left with a black bucket to catch the rainwater, which was actually trickling down my bedroom wall," she said.

The mother added that for a week she endured "very hard" living conditions with her baby and three other children, who are aged two, five and nine.

She was initially placed in a hotel after she repeatedly said the home was not suitable.

But at one point, she said she was told there were issues with hotel availability and her family would have to return to her property.

"We had to come back home and sleep in the house again," she said. "[We were] all jumbled up downstairs with blankets and wearing dressing gowns to try and keep warm."

The youngest children developed coughs and runny noses, the mother claimed.

"My kids are all upset, constantly [saying] 'I'm cold, I'm cold'," she added.

She is now in temporary accommodation, which has been booked by GreenSquareAccord for the next two weeks.

Ms Walker added she was disappointed in an initial lack of support from the organisation after she contacted it repeatedly.

"My son's birthday is actually Christmas Eve as well," she continued. "It's put a lot more stress than I've needed.

"This time of year everybody should really be enjoying themselves and happy and spending time with family. I've not been able to do none of that."

GreenSquareAccord said they were sorry about the issues Ms Sheldon had experienced in her home and had been working with her to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the delay in finishing the roof repair," a spokeperson said.

"We attended Ms Sheldon's home to fix the ceiling damage on Tuesday 23 December to make the property safe and will complete all outstanding works in early January.

They added: "We arranged for Ms Sheldon and her children to move into another home while repairs are being carried out. Ms Sheldon has decided to remain there during the festive period."

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