IMAGINE having to professionally clean your house every fortnight, being unable to store your clothes and breathe in thick, damp air which is also making your children sick.
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This is the reality faced by Kaylah Hayward and her five children, aged between one and nine years old, in their Housing NSW home.
The family has been living in the four-bedroom house for the past two years and had been trying to leave almost ever since due to its mould problem.
Mould affects the flooring and walls, reaching the window sill in some rooms.
Growth is also visible on a mattress, purchased new when the family moved in, and on curtains in two of the bedrooms.
The windows themselves also show signs of moisture damage.
“I looked under my bed and it looked like grass was growing, it was growing on the carpet and on my slats,” Ms Hayward said.
“I put a car seat in the room, I got it out of the car for a week and a half, and it went from black to green.”
Ms Hayward said she had needed to replace her lounge and a bassinet due to mould damage, but it was also taking a toll on her family’s health.
She said all five children had been in hospital with respiratory problems since they moved into the house and her youngest daughter needed high-flow oxygen at three months old.
“We all had influenza B this winter and she and I got chest infections,” she said.
“My nephew and my baby niece stayed during the holidays and he ended up in hospital that night because he had an asthma attack.”
The youngest children now share one of the bedrooms, but Ms Hayward and her other three children sleep in the living room.
She is due to give birth to her sixth child in five weeks’ time.
“I was putting a mattress a day outside to keep them [dry], but the kids would still say, ‘my mattress is wet’, it’s so sad,” she said.
“I feel like I’m failing really – I shouldn’t have to put my kids to bed on a damp mattress.
“One of my daughters has [attention deficit disorder] and if she has her own room, she can settle and we can do the relaxing things, but when the other kids are here, it’s harder.”
Ms Hayward has had little luck having the problem addressed and has struggled to find accommodation in the private rental market.
The flooring in the kitchen was replaced, but she said maintenance personnel told her in July insulation would be required.
Ms Hayward said she did not hear from him until Wednesday, just prior to the Central Western Daily’s visit.
“[A Housing NSW staff member] came out a couple of months ago, she took photos and said it was unlivable,” she said.
Instead, her sister Katrina, a certified cleaner, cleans the house every two weeks, but the sisters said the mould soon returned and attempts to air out the house had not worked.
“I want out of here,” Ms Hayward said.
The CWD asked the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) why the problem remained unresolved and whether it had deadlines for responses to maintenance concerns.
A spokeswoman said FACS took the health and wellbeing of its tenants seriously.
“The property has been inspected twice this year, and we have been in regular contact with the tenant about her concerns and we will reinspect the property tomorrow (Thursday),” she said.
“If there are dangerous levels of mould, we will immediately offer support for the tenant to temporarily relocate to ensure the mould is permanently removed.”
The spokeswoman said FACS was assisting the tenant with an application for a housing transfer.