How house made family seriously ill

A mother and daughter have been left homeless after they discovered their house was making them seriously ill.

Mum Patsy said high levels of mould and bacteria were detected in the Wentworthville home in Sydney’s west.

The pair is now too afraid to spend more than a few seconds inside without respiratory protection.

Landlord, Hume Community Housing, is a not-for-profit offering a range of housing options to those in need from temporary accommodation, private rental, social housing and affordable housing.

“We lived here for 10 years; we didn’t know why we were sick and then we realised it was the house,” Patsy told A Current Affair on Tuesday.

At 47-years-old, Patsy has been forced to move into a tent along with 17-year-old daughter Madeline, located in her mother’s garage in nearby Bankstown.

“I feel like I’m a parked car and we’ve just been disposed off,” Patsy said.

Patsy has been diagnosed with a mould-related disease called Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and says she takes 36 tablets every morning.

Madeline is homeschooled from within the garage and has developed symptoms of anxiety and depression for which she has been assigned an assistance dog.

Patsy is also too afraid to use the bathroom at her mother’s house, which has a small amount of mould, meaning they are forced to wash and use the bathroom outside.

“We toilet in a bucket with a garbage bag. It’s not nice,” Patsy said.

Testing of Patsy’s home by the housing provider yielded that continued occupancy of the residence was “ill-advised”, according to the mum.

“They ignored my report and left us living in a backyard in pouring rain, showering outside, toilet in a bucket,” she said.

Patsy says she has continued to pay rent on the property despite the report’s findings of airborne contaminants.

Hume Community Housing has since issued an eviction notice to Patsy after failing to find appropriate alternative housing for the pair.

The group told ACA it tried to address the issue by renovating Patsy’s house and offering her 15 alternative properties over the past two and a half years – all of which she has refused.

She has been told to contact the Department of Housing for assistance.

“The landlord I guess tried to imply that I’m mental, even after I gave them the report,” Patsy said.

“We deserve a home to live in. We deserve to be treated with respect.”