Family forced out by gang wars now driven out of new home by mice infestation
A family may be forced to leave their house once again after a rodent infestation.
The mum and her three-year-old daughter were already forced to vacate their previous home to escape gang violence.
But after starting a new life in Handsworth, the family may meet the same fate after being plagued by rodents for over six months, reported BirminghamLive.
The mice have been seen hiding in drawers full of their clothes and have left droppings all over their house.
Now the mum, whose identity is protected, has reached her limit and gas abandoned her flat and is sofa surfing at various people's houses.
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She is pleading with Citizen Housing, her landlord, to do something about the pesky rodents.
"I say to them: 'Would you let your daughter or granddaughter live here?' I know there is no way they would - but they think it's okay for us?", she said.
The mum is pleading with her landlord to solve the issue (Birmingham Live)"It's just horrible. We try everything we can but there are holes all over the property, under the bath, in the skirting, around pipes. We hear them crawling. The worst is when they get in my daughter's bed. She is terrified."
Previous issues with a collapsed ceiling in the kitchen and blocked pipes have been addressed.
But the mice problem has not been resolved and has plagued the family for months on end.
The mum said she first came across the mice last September when one jumped out of a drawer in her bedroom on the top floor of the house.
Immediately she alerted Citizen Housing who sent workmen to block up a gap in the skirting thought to be their entry point.
And their workers have returned, over five times, but the problem has still not been adequately dealt with.
And neighbours are said to be dealing with the exact same issue.
The droppings left on the little girl's bed (Birmingham Live)"We really like the area, I have found a good support network with other mums and my daughter was settled in nursery until this happened", she said.
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"It has been hard making a new life here and I don't want to leave the area but we cannot stay in the flat like it is. If they sort it out properly we will be happy to stay here."
The mum and her daughter have been left traumatised after the mice invade her daughter's bed and leave faeces everywhere.
She added: "My daughter was traumatised waking up to find mice running on her bed, she does not want to sleep alone any more. She has become really anxious and she shouldn't be scared of going to sleep.
"It is disgusting. You can hear the mice running and scratching around. Sleeping is really hard for both of us."
The mum and daughter had previously moved after they were caught up in turf wars between rival gangs and were deemed at high risk.
Cllr Mahmood Hussain (Lab, Birchfield) has written to the housing association and is pressing for urgent action.
Citizen Housing said they have tried to close all entry points (Birmingham Live)Saidul Haque Saeed, the regional organiser for Citizens UK, said the family are also being supported by the head of a nearby school where the youngster attends nursery.
He said: "At one point they were both so scared of the mice they went back to stay with family in the area they had been moved out of because they had nowhere else to go.
"Mum and her daughter are vulnerable and the housing association need to act quickly and sort this once and for all," he said.
Director of Maintenance Operations at Citizen Housing, Steve Kirk, said they were sad to hear of the families' struggle and said workers had attended to the house multiple times to try and solve the issue.
They added: “Access points in the property have been filled and we are due to visit (the) home next week to ensure access points under the bath are filled too. Bait has also been placed in neighbouring properties where mice have been reported and we will rebait and block access points where needed.
“When we are made aware of an infestation, it is our responsibility as a landlord to make sure there are no access points for rodents to get into the home and we are committed to carrying out repairs to do this."
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