Sheffield woman terrified to leave her flat after finding stairwells filled with "blood, faeces, needles and rats"

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Star that she often finds her heart racing when she has to walk down the stairs in the flats complex as she is “terrified” of what she will find.

She says the general conditions of the complex have become unbearable, with “used needles, blood and human faeces” being left in the communal areas and rats running across the floors outside.

Recently she sustained a twisted ankle after rushing to get out of the stairwell as she felt so unsafe.

She said: “I often work shifts and when I have to go to work at 6am, or return home at 10pm, I can feel my heart beat so fast. It’s absolutely horrific.

“My friend has even had to start walking with me when she drops me off after work because I am so scared.

“As soon as you get there the smell hits you and then you can hear the rats, and you have to tread so carefully so you don’t step in any of the horrible things people leave there.”

The woman says both herself and a number of other residents, who are all in a group chat to discuss what is happening, have raised the issues with the housing department at Sheffield City Council.

When she first contacted The Star, she said the flats were unsafe as the front and back doors had been left broken for months, meaning access to the building was not secure, and that one of the side doors had been “kicked in” last week.

However since then, the council has confirmed that a representative has visited the site to fix the doors.

Residents of blocks within the complex, including Keaton House, Wiggen House and Gregory House, have now launched a petition calling for more to be done to combat the “squalid” conditions.

The petition states that steps need to be taken “in the interests of health and safety”.

The woman who spoke to The Star says she is extremely worried for the families with young children who live in the blocks.

She added: “It is awful. They deserve so much more than this and the children deserve to be able to go out to play without being surrounded by rats and filth.”

Her sister, who also got in touch with images of the conditions, said she was becoming increasingly concerned for her sister’s health.

She said: “It is horrendous – living like this daily is making her ill. She can’t even take her grandchildren there because she just can’t have them experiencing it and she never gets any visitors. It’s so lonely for her.”

Janet Sharpe, Director of Housing and Neighbourhood Services at Sheffield City Council, said: “We were made aware of some access issues at Leverton Gardens. In response, we have made two doors secure so that only residents can enter the communal areas. We have also secured the door to the bin room.

“We will continue to work with Framework, the outreach service, and the local policing team. Neighbourhood Wardens will carry out additional patrols as well during different parts of the day.”

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