Our view: Urgent action needed now to end the scandal of the mouldy and damp homes our clients are living in

The housing crisis in this country has many faces – not least of them the damp and mouldy conditions so many people are expected to tolerate.

We see and hear the consequences of the mess we’re in every single day in the stories we hear from the women and young people we support. 

In fact, the photographs which illustrate this story are from the home – rented from a private landlord – of a woman we are helping.

Whether they live in the private or social housing, many of them tell us their health, both physical and mental, is being put at risk by the unacceptable state of their homes.

Our clients’ experience is reflected in a report setting out how complaints about damp and mouldy homes have reached a record high here in Leicester,  the wider county and the rest of the UK.

The Housing Ombudsman handled 72 complaints about leaks, damp and mould in the city and county last year, an eight-fold increase on the nine reported in 2020, according to the report in LeicestershireLive/The Leicester Mercury recently.

This means the overall number of housing complaints is much higher, with housing providers across the country recording 186,000 formal complaints since April 2023.

The ombudsman reported that a Leicester City Council tenant had been left to live in a mouldy home for four years – in which time, the woman and her partner were forced to live, eat and sleep in their living room.

The council was ordered to pay the tenant £3,210 in compensation, to identify the cause of the problem and carry out repairs.

A spokesperson for the city council told LeicestershireLive: “Fortunately, the issues highlighted in this case are the exception to what is a generally high standard of council housing stock.

 “We accepted the ombudsman’s recommendations and orders, and these have been acted on in full. 

“We have also implemented a new damp and mould policy, which ensures robust processes are in place to further improve the condition of our housing stock and help ensure the safety of our tenants.”

In the official report on the case, the ombudsman Richard Blakeway said the deteriorating state of the country’s housing stock and a greater awareness of the issue following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak may be factors in the rising number of complaints.

Awaab died in in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould and damp in his family’s home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

His death led to the passing of Awaab’s Law as part of the Social Housing Act, requiring landlords to fix reported hazards in social housing in a “timely fashion”, or rehouse tenants in safe accommodation

Mr Blakeway said: “These figures tell a stark story about the condition of some of the homes in the social housing sector. We know that this is not the majority, but it is enough to give us cause for concern.

“We have an unprecedented focus on putting things right and have issued nearly 15,000 orders and recommendations this financial year alone. But unfortunately we are continuing to find extensive and repeated failings.

“Some landlords need to grip these issues because it is particularly those with vulnerabilities that are being failed. A lot of the time these vulnerabilities are being exposed because of the housing situation they find themselves in.

“There needs to be a fundamental rethink by government on the links between health and housing. We believe a Royal Commission on this vital topic is needed where politics cannot impede strong solutions for the housing crisis we are seeing every day in our casework.”

Carl Martin, direct services manager at The New Futures Project, said: “We know from the face-to face work we do with our clients that many are in poor housing situations, with urgent work required to make their homes safe places to live in.

“Often these conditions are contributing and worsening people’s physical and mental health.

“We agree with the Housing Ombudsman that a Royal Commission is required in order to address this crisis and find solutions.”

 New Futures was set up more than 20 years ago to support women involved in sex work.

However, we have evolved into a comprehensive welfare and counselling service for women and young people dealing with sexual abuse or exploitation, domestic violence, trafficking, poverty and debt, substance use or mental ill-health.

Call us on 0116 251 0803 or send us a message at: info@new-futures.org.uk

You can find us at 71 London Road, Leicester, LE2 0PE.

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