Commissioner for Children Says North Belfast High Rise Housing is Not Good Enough
Following last week’s launch of PPRs 'Equality Can’t Wait' report, which chronicles ten years of failed housing policy and religious inequality in North Belfast, families living in high rise social housing in north Belfast’s Seven Towers and Harborview Apartments took the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, on a visit to both housing complexes this week.
Despite the Housing Executive having already conceded in 2009 that the Tower Blocks were not fit for families, residents have noticed a marked increase in the number of children living there, as well as many young families spending years waiting in Gráinne house hostel.
The Commissioner visited families living with damp, mould and poor heating on the twelfth floor of the Seven Towers flats, families trapped in the Gráinne house hostel for over two years and families desperate to escape the poorly equipped Harborview Apartments in Pilot Street where there are no children’s facilities for the many families who live there.
Sinéad, who lives with her son, in Harborview was hopeful the visit would force a change in how Clanmill Housing Association and the DSD do business regarding Harborview apartments.
She said: ‘Despite the fact that I and other residents have reported problems countless times it seems like we are just being ignored. The lack of play space and play facilities for the children and the dangers posed to them with frequent occurrences of anti social behaviour make it clear that this environment is unsuitable for children. Clanmil Housing Association along with other local bodies including MLAs need to do more for communities and for the constituents they represent. We as residents want action, not words. Children have a legal right to play.’
Hugh, whose four children live with him on the twelfth floor of Finn house with chronic damp and poor heating, hoped the visit could help all families living in unsuitable accommodation:
He said: “I’ve been living here for five years and have seen no movement despite the management of the Housing Executive saying I shouldn’t be here. The Housing Executive made promises in 2009 that kids shouldn’t live in these flats, but I’m still here with my kids. They are stuck here on the 12th floor in a damp flat. All I want is a place where my kids can play.
Following the visit the children’s commissioner promised residents she would be taking action and issued the following statement:
"Children’s Commissioner, Patricia Lewsley-Mooney has condemned the lack of progress on children’s living conditions in the Seven Towers flats in north Belfast.
While some improvements have been made since the previous engagement, Mrs Lewsley-Mooney reiterated her grave concern and anger at the conditions facing children and young people living in the flats.
“More than a quarter of the population in the New Lodge area is under the age of 16, and for all of their lives and the lives of a generation, these flats have towered over the area,” said the Commissioner.
“For too long children have been living in damp, unsafe, poor housing with problems associated with drainage. While the Housing Executive has taken some steps to address these, I fear this is a sticking plaster for more serious, chronic problems.”
Mrs Lewsley-Mooney reiterated the responsibilities on government ensuing from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly those in relation to the provision of play areas and supporting families and children in appropriate housing in safe, healthy environments.
“While I understand the difficulties in the current economic climate, it is not good enough in the 21st Century for children to have to live in this type of inappropriate accommodation with all the associated risks.
“I will be writing to the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Housing Executive and Clanmil Housing Association, and the Minister for Social Development to ask how they intend to address the conditions in which children are living.”