Rats, rising damp and mould-filled homes are just some of the terrible living conditions residents in social housing are dealing with.
Structural problems and ongoing leaks have wreaked havoc of the lives of low-income families in the area, with one resident having water "pouring through the ceiling" whilst a dad complains that his children were "bitten by rats as they slept".
Some of the most vulnerable tenants are trapped inside their own homes, with one resident found sleeping on a tent on his own bed due to the uncontrollable leaks, The Liverpool Echo reports.
A recent report by the Building Research Establishment found poor housing in England could be costing the NHS £1.4billion a year in treatment bills, with defects in homes which expose residents to excess cold accounting for more than half of this.
Gareth Chitty, director of Home Rescue said tenants are "pleading for proper work" to be done on their homes.
He added: "These tenants will wait in some cases up to a year for the housing inspector to even attend, and then when he or she does the situation is being blamed on the tenant breathing too much, showering too much, cooking too much and they're not getting offered proper repairs."
One single mum, from Bootle, who did not want to be named, said she contacted Home Rescue UK after spending six years trying to get the correct repairs carried out on her home which had black mould and rising damp in every room.
She told the ECHO things got so bad that water was pouring into her living room when it rained, which caused the TV to blow up while she was sat on the sofa.
The woman said she had tried numerous times to get her housing association to carry out the repairs but they failed to realise the full extent of the problem and often blamed it on condensation.
In some cases, she said the quality of the work carried out was not up to standard, while in others the workmen never turned up.
She said: "I was living in black mould, it was coming through the walls, water was pouring into my living room
Photos shared with the ECHO show some of the damp and mould ridden conditions Gareth has come across in Liverpool over the last two years.
He said these problems are not confined to one part of Liverpool and are something which he sees everyday in his job as a surveyor.
