Trident Housing Association - Alleged Neglect of Vulnerable Adults & Corruption (Housing Associations in general)

Member Name: carlossp

Product:	Housing Associations in general
Date:	13/05/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A roof over your head

Disadvantages: Terrible maintenance, breaches of heath and safety, poor support, alleged corruption

I was born with Asperger Syndrome which is a life long disability that falls under the category of an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). The disability however doesn't affect my intelligence as I am perfectly capable of achieving most things including designing, writing and maintaining this website and helping with others. I have a full UK driving licence and various formal qualifications including 'A' Level Computer Science Grade A, English & Maths 'O' Levels amongst others. The disability mainly affects my communication skills with other people and it makes it much harder to be accepted by people who don't understand the condition as many instead criticise the symptoms due to lack of knowledge. Also although I see myself as an expert with computers, technology and paranormal science, I fall behind with some basic life skills and need some support, unfortunately Trident Housing Association which is based in Birmingham in the UK is in my opinion falling well short of their obligations to protect, help and support vulnerable adults that fall under their care in supported accommodation.

I moved into a flat with Trident Housing Association in November 2007 that is meant to be supported, although what I have seen here is nothing short of neglect. Various residents have been complaining and protesting for years, although nothing changes despite even contacting the authorities and press. I initially ended up in my residence because Trident Housing physically lost my written housing application for a more suitable location which caused a move to fall through which was disgusting and unforgivable. When various people including myself complained severely, I was moved to my current location as it was then the only place available after they gave the property I was promised to someone else. My residence isn't suitable because it's primarily for people with mental health problems, not people with Asperger Syndrome which isn't compatible and in fact clashes, plus as I will explain later, the support is in my opinion utterly terrible. Moving to this property was meant to be a temporary move as Trident Housing admitted it wasn't suitable for me, but I've been there since November 2007 and I'm now told I have to wait my turn again like everyone else for a more suitable property despite their severe mistakes and total incompetence making me move here in the first place.

Total Utter Neglect:

One disabled elderly resident lives in total utter squalor in a nearby flat. One can smell what appears to be a choking stench of faeces and urine on the corridor outside his door on regular occasions. He is extremely thin and very dirty indeed, he is in severe need of care and support, yet he is clearly abandoned. Other residents have been complaining for many months on his behalf to no avail and have to pass by the stench every single day to access their flats which is itself a severe health and safety risk. As nothing was done despite repeated requests, another helpful resident tried to help the by replacing his mattress, I took photographs of his old mattress which was literally covered in thick black gunge which appears to be faeces, thick ash and severe burns where it's caught fire, it literally made me feel sick. It stunk and he was sleeping on this every night. I once entered his flat and it was almost impossible to breath due to the stench and what I saw was unbelievable, he was literally living in his own sh*t, yet the support staff have continued to allow this. The resident is very ill anyway and is not surprisingly constantly coughing up phlegm, his terrible living conditions will in my opinion dramatically shorten his life expectancy, yet still nothing is done by Trident Care & Support.

According to fellow residents, another resident was left dead in his flat for many days until residents finally smelt a horrible smell near his door and complained. Trident Care and Support allegedly failed to do the required welfare checks and got into trouble at the time. After this terrible incident Trident Care and Support were apparently forced to restart regular welfare checks, but now it's going back to normal and they are often missed for ages.

A resident has been suffering from a mental illness and has been shouting in a threatening manor to himself, banging walls continuously for many weeks in severe distress. He is in my opinion clearly having a nervous breakdown and isn't talking any sense. A neighbour has been complaining for many weeks to Trident Care and Support as this resident is in desperate need and could harm himself, yet for weeks nothing was done to stop this and his repeated outbursts continued all night long. For ages, in my opinion, his best support has been from his neighbour who without any help or training has tried to calm him down and talk to him, but can't do this alone and should be receiving support from Trident Care and Support himself, but is instead forced to provide urgent support for other people in the absence of any staff. He was left very frustrated that nothing was changing or getting done and was trying everything to no avail.

Yet another resident appeared in my opinion to be having a nervous breakdown and has been in severe distress, hanging around reception throughout the night, pouncing on people passing by to try and get things off his chest that he can't to Trident Care and Support. Neighbours have been extremely concerned as he has also been acting very irrationally in various ways which is out of character for the resident. Sadly this has continued for many months as he is clearly not getting the right help and support, if any at all despite repeatedly reporting this to support staff.

I could continue and mention numerous residents that are similarly not receiving the right support, if any support at all in my personal opinion. Residents appear to feel completely abandoned, many are constantly complaining about the lack of support and neglect.

Breaches of Fire Safety Regulations:

Because there are 38 vulnerable adults living in separate flats in the property, the property is at a very high risk of fire, yet Trident Housing have disconnected the fire alarm system to the Fire Service due to cuts without even informing residents of this change. Staff are rarely present when the fire alarm sounds and no-one except myself and a few other residents respond to the fire alarm in any way what-so-ever as according to Trident Housing, residents should in the event of fire, "remain in your flats" and this was officially displayed on the notice board. After lots of complaining I'm unsure if this ridiculous policy has changed, but most people still ignore the fire alarm completely. Despite asking for months, no-one is officially Fire Marshall trained. The fire alarm system hasn't worked properly since I moved in November 2007, flashing errors in various places that aren't protected at all. Various residents have written letters of complaint including myself, it's been brought up in residents meetings and residents continue to protest to both Trident Housing and even the Fire Service, yet nothing is done. There has been a number of small fires, 3 which involved severely dangerous burning oil and one where a resident's kitchen was well ablaze. Despite the flats being thick with smoke, the fire alarm failed to go off on 3 of the 4 fires until someone actually broke the fire glass, most residents remained in their flats throughout.

There has been various other fire safety problems including broken and unchecked fire extinguishers, broken emergency lighting, damaged fire doors and more. Various furniture has just been removed from the reception area as it didn't come up to scratch with fire safety standards, yet all flats are still partly furnished with the same cheap furniture and nothing is done.

Rats and Mice:

There has been a rodent problem in the premises for sometime, my friend has had the problem for many months, yet Trident have done nothing despite reporting it repeatedly.

Severe Lack of Maintenance:

Maintenance is in my opinion often close to non existent in the premises, I could list masses of severe problems. For instance I have had waste water from above pouring into my bathroom on numerous occasions since July 2008. I have written loads of complaints and have called Trident Housing at least 30 times and it's still not fixed. Trident repeatedly close the job without fixing it. The water goes into my electrics and I'm supposed to be without lighting completely because of health and safety until Trident Housing fix it but have been forced to turn on the electric myself as being in the dark for 9 months is not feasible. I am how forced to risk electrocution as when it leaks through, water can flow from my electrics, down the pull chord to the lights. Also it's waste water which in it's self is a severe health and safety concern that continues to be ignored by Trident Housing.

I know of at least one other resident that has had severe damp and mould for many months which is extremely bad for his health. There are so many maintenance issues and there's too many to list here, but residents are constantly complaining.

Lack of Security & Serious Drugs Abuse Problems:

The residents have an antiquated CCTV system with 24 Hour tapes that sometimes don't get changed meaning footage is lost. The police have apparently said that it's so low quality that evidence couldn't be used in a court of law anyway.

For years the door intercom system hasn't worked and dodgy visitors have used this as an excuse to gain access to the property. Residents have complained until they are blue in the face, yet it remained unfixed. The front so called security doors are damaged and have been for ages, they can simply be pulled open with a bit of force.

The block is regularly visited by dodgy people who gain access easily, for instance, I had two lads tried to force my front door open at 4am in the morning blatantly a few weeks ago as they gained access to the communal areas with ease.

There is now also in my opinion a severe drug problem in the premises and some vulnerable residents have been taken over by drug addiction despite staff and local police being warned about this over 6 months ago when drug dealers and drug addicts were hanging around the property, pushing drugs as I've seen it with my own eyes. Residents including myself have been threatened or attacks by dodgy individuals while in the communal area to their own home, minding their own business, yet still hardly anything in my opinion is done to stop it.

What really doesn't help in my opinion is Trident Housing decided to rent out half of the property to a homeless hostel which I strongly suspect houses numerous heroin and crack addicts which have certainly been known to leave paraphernalia in the court yard or around the bins. Although they are banned from our side of the property, they still share the courtyard and come into our block never-the-less causing all kinds of problems including antisocial behaviour. It's in my opinion ridiculous sharing a homeless hostel with vulnerable adults in the first place and it puts residents at risk. Unless something is done, I'm expecting someone to get seriously hurt or perhaps even killed eventually.

Corrupt Care & Support Staff:

Before I lived in my property I heard from other residents that there was a support staff member who was also apparently a drug addict who tried to sleep with some of the vulnerable adults she was meant to support. Apparently while working there she took hard drugs around residents. Her impact has apparently left a terrible mark on some residents past and present, yet the whole thing was allegedly covered up completely by Trident Care and Support.

I felt that I was once threatened physically by a support staff member based by how he stood in my personal space up to my face and what he said in a communal area in my residence. He was very aggressive and in my opinion and in the opinion of other witnesses, he caused fear for violence. When I complained, even though I had witnesses who told me I should report it to the police, the then manager lied in my opinion blatantly and said nothing happened, in my opinion to protect the staff member who still works as a support worker at the time of writing. This showed me that in my opinion there is serious corruption in the organisation. Note that when I walked to Trident Head Office to complain about this incident, the particular support worker saw me in the street and specifically turned and walked towards me, blocking my way demanding to know what I'd just said, I said, "nothing" and he backed down at the time. He then initially followed me into Head Office where he stood behind me forcing me to make up another reason for visiting. He then finally walked out of the office when he thought I wasn't complaining about him, proving in my opinion that he'd only visited in the first place to intimidate me so I wouldn't then tell staff what really happened. The whole thing caused me a lot of stress and upset, yet in my opinion it was completely swept under the carpet in every way. I have since heard various other residents also report threatening behaviour from this particular support staff member and he allegedly has a reputation for knowing certain threatening people who he could call upon if necessary, yet he continues to work for Trident Care & Support.

Final Comments:

From my experience and opinion, residents in my property feel total apathy and let down by Trident Housing Association in various ways. I myself feel abandoned and am shocked by what I've seen since living with them since November 2007. I hope that things will eventually change for the better in my residence and other supported schemes that don't come up to scratch. Unfortunately the only way things will change is by fighting for improvements.

Despite everything that I've said, Trident Housing have recently at the time of writing released a brand new website at http://www.trident-ha.org.uk or www.msinternetdev1.co.uk where residents can apparently interact, book repairs, make complaints, report antisocial behaviour Etc on-line. The website looks great and it makes Trident Housing look like they really care, if only residents felt like it was like that in reality. I rebooked my water leak problem and have made numerous complaints on the new website already, yet so far none have been responded to in any way what-so-ever by Trident Housing Association and I'm now forced to see a solicitor to force them to carry out the essential repair.

Not all staff are bad within Trident Housing, I would like to say that some care and support staff do in my opinion do their best to support individuals in the residence although they are in my opinion often overrun and overworked, one such member has unfortunately now left Trident Care and Support which is quite sad.

Contact Trident Housing Association Limited:

To contact Trident Housing Association Limited, please write to 239 Holliday Street, Birmingham, B1 1SJ or phone them on 0121 633 4633 during office hours. For emergency repairs and to report antisocial behaviour, they operate an out of hours number which is 0121 643 0883. Alternatively visit their official website at http://www.trident-ha.org.uk or www.msinternetdev1.co.uk for more details.

Summary: Unless you are desperate, I don't recommend Trident Housing Association for supported accommodation