Mould problems continue for military families
BBCAnn-Marie Rismay's home was described to the House of Commons as "shabby" and "simply not good enough" by her local MP.
As she took the BBC on a tour of her military quarter in Aldershot - the town that proclaims itself "the home of the British Army" - it was plain she would not disagree with a word of that verdict.
The government has said the completion of a deal to buy back more than 36,000 military quarters, sold to a private firm almost three decades ago, will be the start of an improvement plan.
But families are worried by the continued reliance on private contractors to carry out repairs and maintenance.
Mrs Rismay had the windows open at the family home, despite freezing temperatures outside, after being told ventilation was the best way to tackle the mould and damp.
"All [the MoD contractors] do is wash the mould and paint," she explained.
"Our kids are being sick all the time, so I have to take them to the hospital or the GP.
"I showed the doctor the photos of where we were living and they said that's really disgusting and how could we be living in this house with all the children."
She and husband Richard have seven children, ranging from two toddlers to the eldest boys, one of whom wants to follow his father into the military.
A video on his dad's phone was shared with the family doctor.
On it, the young boy can be heard breathing noisily, his parents said because of spores from the mould that is found in all the bedrooms.
They claimed they get little sleep at night as they watch over the children.
"To deal with mould and damp, it's something that has to be taken seriously," said Mr Rismay. "It's not good for breathing and it's causing depression."
Mrs Rismay said her husband had been medically discharged from the army last year after serving for over 13 years, partly because his mental health was affected by worries about the family's living conditions.
Their case has been taken up by Aldershot MP Alex Baker, who became the first Labour politician to represent the army town at Westminster following the general election.
"Ann-Marie and countless other families across Aldershot and Farnborough are living in shabby military accommodation that simply isn't good enough," she told Parliament.
The Ministry of Defence said bringing the military quarters back into public ownership, at a cost of just under £6bn, would pave the way for re-development and improvements.
"We have opened up a once-in-a-generation chance to improve homes for our armed forces and their families, who sacrifice so much to keep us safe," said Defence Secretary, John Healey MP.
Ministers claim they will save £600,000 a day in rents to the previous owners.
But while the houses may be publicly owned once more, a private firm will remain responsible for logging maintenance problems, with work still delegated to two contractors, one covering homes in the north of Britain, the other in the south at sites like Aldershot.
Next door neighbour on Aldershot's "patch", the military name for the housing estates beside the barracks where families live, is Aisha Doolan.
She said her home too suffers from mould, though not as much as her neighbour.
"It makes me feel angry," she said.
"It does make me feel sad that there's nowhere we can go other than the one company they use to help us when we have problems with our home.
"It goes further than mould. There's issues with repairs and everything goes wrong quite a lot in military homes, it seems."
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "This government is committed to tackling the poor state of some service accommodation and is clear it will renew the nation's contract with those who serve.
"We take issues affecting accommodation very seriously and work with our contractors to address any complaints as soon as possible."