'We had mould on the walls and no toilet for three days' - Walsall couple talk about their housing nightmare, and mayor Richard Parker promises action

"We had no toilet for three days" she says. "We had to use fill a bowl in the sink to flush it. We had mould on the walls, and the front door was broken. You could get out, but you couldn't lock it. 

"We reported the door, and they came out, bodged it, and it went again. And then he said we needed a new door, but didn't do it again because he didn't want to pay the money."

Meanwhile, their rent had gone up from £700 a month to £750. And then came the final bombshell. In 2022, after two years in their not-especially palatial home, Mrs Williams, a 48-year-old mother-of-six, her 59-year-old husband Brian, and their youngest daughters Chantelle, 16, and Talisha, 13, were given two months' notice to quit. 

"They had put the rent up by an extra £50, but I had no choice but to pay, I would have been homeless if I did not pay. 

"And then he served us with an eviction notice, giving us two months to move out. He said he was selling up."

It was a distressing time for the couple, particularly Brian who suffers from mental-health problems.

"We didn't know if we were going to be made homeless," says Mrs Williams. "They said they were takin us to court, and we didn't know if we would be put into emergency accommodation, which could be anywhere, it could be in Birmingham."

The story had a happy ending for the Williams family, which they were today (Tuesday) sharing with Richard Parker, elected mayor for the West Midlands, who is pledging to make ending the region's housing crisis a top priority.

With days to go before being ordered to leave their home of two years, they were offered a three-bedroom home on the WHG housing association's new Lockside development, on a former steelworks off Green Lane. 

Mr Parker cites the development, built under his predecessor Andy Street, as a prime example of what needs to be done to eradicate the housing crisis in the West Midlands - and one he says needs to be replicated many times over. Built on the site of the former Caparo steelworks, this thriving new community offers 324 high-quality new homes of which 192 are classed as 'affordable'.

"It was derelict for some time, brownfield land, land that blights large parts of the Black Country, and it's fantastic," he says.

"It had combined authority support for land remediation, and it's a fantastic place, a fantastic community to live with two-thirds of it being affordable housing, a mixture of shared ownership and affordable rent. 

"I met a wonderful woman, Janet, who's got six children, two currently living at home. She was evicted almost overnight, by a landlord from poor quality, very expensive, rented housing, and she's got a fantastic new home here. 

"She explained that it's changed her life, for the first time in a long time she's living in more safe, affordable, secure housing, and she's able to build a new life, which is fantastic.

"That's why for me, this programme, the biggest programme for social housing we've seen in decades, it's stories like the one we've heard are behind my ambition on how much difference it makes to people's lives."

Mr Parker said 500 new social housing properties had been built during his first year in office, compared to just 47 over the seven years that Mr Street was mayor. 

He said the Government would also put a stop to 'no-fault' evictions, such as the one served on the Williams family. Mrs Williams said that, after telling her he wanted to sell the property, her old landlord refurbished the house and is now letting it out to new tenants.

Mr Parker said insecure accommodation had a serious impact on the lives of children in particular, affecting their education and their futures.

Latest figures show that across the West Midlands there are 7,450 households, including 14,976 children, living in temporary accommodation and 65,335 households on social housing waiting lists.

He said it was his ambition that every one of them should be found a secure, affordable home.