Parents Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin repeatedly complained about the mould in their social housing flat. Their landlord, a housing association in Rochdale, a city in Greater Manchester, was unresponsive. It ducked and weaved and plain ignored the complaints.
When Faisal and Aisha’s two-year-old son Awaab Ishak died, a coroner’s report in November, 2022 pointed to mould that riddled the home. A shockwave swept across the United Kingdom, one that involved all levels of government. Housing secretary Michael Gove got personally involved, knocking on doors throughout the Rochdale social housing project, seeking answers and vowing to introduce legislation to prevent such a tragedy in the future.
So, months after the tragic event, is the UK any closer to solving its mould problem? Studies, needless to say, are being done.
What do they tell us so far? An initial report from the Social Housing Regulator applies to England (Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland were not included). It certainly hints at the scope of a problem that is afflicting all the UK countries.
The report kicks off with what might be considered to be good news. Based on initial results, 0.2% have ‘very serious’ mould, 2% have ‘serious’ mould, and a further 4% have ‘notable’ mould problems.
There are 4.4 million social rent homes in England. Tallying the moderate, serious and very serious cases, it means that there are more 225,000 homes with a mould issue.
Here is an analysis of England’s Social Housing Regulator report in Times Series: Social housing regulator finds thousands of homes have serious mould and damp
Social housing managed by councils apparently have a somewhat worse performance than social housing managed by housing associations. But what explains a seeming dereliction of responsibility by so many housing associations and local councils in the UK?
The Guardian, in a recent article headline, seems to suggest the problem is getting worse, doubling over the last two years. ‘Worse’ may be a false assumption, however, reflecting an increase in the number of complaints, rather than in the number of non-compliant homes. The UK government has been pushing to improve landlords’ responses to tenants who live in social rent homes. And tenants are are being encouraged, even trained, to take action on their own behalf.
The really interesting aspect of The Guardian article is that it identifies a reason, or at the very least an excuse, for social housing managers to scrape mould off their plate, so to speak. Building managers have been saying that mould issues are down to ‘tenant lifestyles,’ such as opening a window, or running a bath, and not a landlord responsibility. Read more in The Guardian: Mould complaints in England’s social housing double over two years
If there is to be change in UK social housing, one big question is: are there teeth in oversight of social housing landlords? Official comments attributed to government officials heavily lean upon dashed expectations — landlord responses are ‘disappointing’ or ‘confusing.’ Although government officials may have a ‘name and shame’ capability with recalcitrant landlords, their regulatory muscles seem weak, at least so far.
This is where Housing Secretary Michael Gove has now rung in with promises of ‘studies’ followed by more assertive regulation to effectively force compliance from social housing landlords. We shall see.
Needless to say, mould is a serious problem everywhere — one for which there is no cure, only vigilant action to control it, important as it is to the cycle of life on earth. The UK’s awakening to this problem, which can be a matter of life and death, deserves a close watch in other jurisdictions around the world. For those interested in the report from the Social Housing Regulator, here it is: Damp and mould in social housing: initial findings
