Living in a wendy house with her sickly wheelchair-bound child, who needs hospital care each month, is simply not healthy, says Ocean View mom Kim-Lee Thomas.
She, her partner and their two-year-old, Tatum, have been on the City’s Housing Needs Register for just over nine years.
“We live in the yard of my mother-in-law.”
The couple and their daughter have no running water or toilet and the structure is “aangelas” with holes.
“The wood of the wendy house is broken and rotting, and there are always bugs getting in because we live across a field.”
Tatum, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epileptic fits, gets sick every other day, Thomas pointed out.
Their home consists of one room divided into a bedroom and sitting area, with uneven floors, different wood panels as walls, a bucket as a toilet and a broken front door.
“I visited the rental office and the staff there told me they do not cater to people with disabilities first any longer. They apparently work according to the City’s list.
“But because Tatum has epilepsy and cerebral palsy as well as severe eczema and adenoids she is always sick and I feel we can’t wait any longer.”
The concerned mom asked the Red Cross Children’s Hospital for a letter as motivation for better living conditions.
“Every month I have to go to the hospital with my baby to see a specialist,” she says, adding that her next appointment is tomorrow (25 October). “We have to see a bone specialist and they will give us a date on which they will operate on her.
“I’ve asked the hospital for a letter to hand to the rental office, which I have done.”
In the letter, seen by People’s Post, the hospital states Tatum’s living conditions are not conducive.
Tatum, who is a very sickly child, was born “normal”, but everything changed when she reached four months, says Thomas.
“She was born normal and then at four months, she started having epilepsy fits. After many scans and tests and being told Tatum wouldn’t live long, she was later diagnosed with epilepsy.”
The City of Cape Town confirmed that Thomas has been on its Housing Needs Register since 29 July 2014.
According to Mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim, applicants are selected for housing opportunities based on the date that they registered on the City’s Housing Needs Register.
Each housing project invites applicants based on the order of the date on which they applied from the following three categories: applicants who reside within the target area, applicants who have been registered on the Housing Needs Register the longest but live outside the target area and applicants in the specialised category of the elderly and people with a permanent disability
“There is no specific time frame which residents must wait before they may be allocated a housing opportunity as it depends on the availability of housing opportunities and whether applicants qualify when the opportunities do become available.
“It is important to remember that all housing projects have different dynamics in terms of the size of the project, the number of applicants who may qualify and the application date range for that project.”
