A mum of two children in Swindon says her home has been 'ruined' by thick green mould - and claims the housing association responsible for it has done little to help.

Yet the 23-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, is a resident at the Swindon Young Parents scheme at Beaumaris Road in Toothill, which provides supported housing for parents aged 16 to 25 years.

She said: “It is riddled and I mean riddled with mould. It's grown through the carpet, it's literally on all my kids' baby wipes.

“As soon as you walk in, you can just smell damp, mould, wet, it just stinks. All of my furniture has got brown, thick, green, hairy mould all over it.

“My kids' cots are covered in Mould, riddled with it. It's damaged all my stuff and now it's damaging my life.”

She described a picture she has of her children’s handprints and footprints from when they were newborns.

“That was very special to me”, she said. The photo frame is now mouldy.

“When I go to a normal house and I smell it is not damp and everything is not being ruined, I think ‘oh my goodness, why is my life not like this?’

“It gets me in tears sometimes when things like that get ruined, very sentimental things.”

The idea of returning to the flat is horrible to the woman, but the alternative is equally hard for her and her young children.

“It's affected me in ways that I didn't even know could affect me”, she said.

“Even the way I carry myself, my children. I'm struggling in every single possible way. It's taken over my life.

“I've been living out of bag, I've been living in cars, hotels, friend’s houses, just so I don’t have to go back to that place, it’s horrible.”

She says her children have become ill from being constantly on the move and not being at home.

She says she has tried installing dehumidifiers and has been told by visiting surveyors that she takes good care of the house.

She has also complained to the housing association, Bromford, which manages the upkeep of the property.

But she says they have not done enough, painting over the mould only for it to grow through again.

A Bromford spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for the issues the resident has been experiencing in her home and we are working to resolve them as soon as possible.

“After reporting issues with condensation in her home last year, we installed new fans in the property to help tackle this. 

“We believed this had resolved the issue until she contacted us again earlier this year. Following a recent inspection of the home we have now identified further work that will reduce condensation in her home. 

“We have now contacted the resident to arrange a time to carry out this work early next week.”

This is not the first time concerns about the state of the Beaumaris Road properties has been raised.

In 2020, the Adver reported fears from new mums that living in mouldy properties was harming their and their children’s health.

One 18-year-old kept her newborn baby in her bedroom because every other room in the flat had dark green-black spots showing through the paint and plaster.

Two years before this the Adver reported on a rat infestation in the same residential scheme which forced one of the mums to move out.

The flat was filled with rat dropping, which caused a one-year-old to be taken to hospital five times in a month.

A Bromford spokesperson previously said that coronavirus had delayed ‘non-urgent repairs’.