A HOME for vulnerable people with mental health problems has been ordered to improve following a catalogue of complaints, including a flooded room and no heating.

Hope Lodge, in Southend Road, is paid by Southend Council to provide supported accommodation for people with mental health issues.

It is run by Richmond Fellowship charity but the home is said to have had little heating for years and residents’ welfare is not adequately monitored.

Resident Connor Diack is one of those who have made complaints about the home after helping rescue an elderly woman when her ceiling collapsed and her room was flooded.

Mr Diack said: “This involves the neglect of about 30 disabled residents. The council has served a default notice because they have not been given the care they should have.

“There was an 80-year-old lady laying in her bed and the roof had collapsed and flooded her room with rain. I rescued her.”

Mr Diack’s partner, Helen Scarborough, said: “The residents are not getting the support they should be.

“This is supposed to be a place the council uses as transitional housing. They are there for a couple of years and in that time they are supposed to provide you with support every month.”

Ms Scarborough added: “Connor has had no heating ever since he’s been here, three years. The flat he’s in now, the heating still doesn’t work. The bathroom is the only under floor heating that works.

“There are residents on the third floor who have been there four years and they’ve never had heating. We had nine months where there was no hot water for Connor. There’s supposed to be a lift for the elderly people here but that lift didn’t work for a year.”

Daniel Nelson, cabinet member for public health and adult social care, said: “Southend Council commissions Richmond Fellowship to provide a transitional supported housing scheme for people with mental health concerns.

“A default notice has been issued to advise Richmond Fellowship that their current provision needs to be improved. Southend Council works with all providers to ensure that the highest possible quality of support is provided within the services it commissions and is committed to supporting Richmond Fellowship to address concerns that have been raised."

Maddy Smith is interim director of operations, quality and housing at the Richmond Fellowship.

She said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of the people we support have always been at the heart of everything we do.

"All boilers at our service have been replaced and during brief periods of time when the heating system failed, we provided residents with portable heaters.

“During the flooding in October 2021, with immediate effect, affected residents were placed in suitable temporary accommodation, with the provision of person-centred support. The effective partnership work in dealing with this emergency was praised by the Southend Commissioning team in December 2021. We will continue to work with our partners to make sure we provide the best quality of support for all residents.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from the Richmond Fellowship that was not provided at the time of publication.