London’s housing crisis: life inside a derelict estate | Times Reports

The Aylesbury Estate in south London has been earmarked for demolition since 2005. Dozens of families remain on the estate, waiting to be relocated by Southwark council. London's deepening housing crisis has pushed more people into homelessness. Fatima, eight, has been homeless for nearly all her life, living with her two older brothers and mother in temporary accommodation on the estate, a sprawling, rundown block of flats, the largest public housing estate in Europe. “We have so many mice, they eat everything in the house,” says her mother, Aminata Diallo, 45, a cleaner. There is damp on the walls, mould on the floor, leaks staining the ceiling and peeling wallpaper, covered by children’s maps. “The radiator is not strong enough so when winter comes it’s very cold in the house,” says her eldest son, Salia, 22, who is at college. “When you go outside and then come in, it’s even worse. It’s colder inside. It makes us sick most of the time.” Fatima often has to take days off school when she gets ill, unable to get better. They are waiting to be placed in permanent accommodation by Southwark council. “The council tells us to wait,” says Diallo. “But we don’t know how long we will be there for. We are always calling them but it’s always the same response: wait.” Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=timesonlinevideo Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timesandsundaytimes/ Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetimes Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetimes/ #uk #poverty #costofliving