Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOUSING HELL
EXCLUSIVE
Investigations Editor FAMILIES on the Freehold Estate in Rochdale say they still live in dire, damp conditions two years after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to mould.
The Mirror was yesterday shown kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms soaked by damp and caked with black mould on the 376-property estate.
Last night their landlords Rochdale Boroughwide Housing promised to act after the Mirror highlighted the damp conditions their tenants must endure.
Ana Navaneethan, 39, invited us into the tiny two-bedroom flat where she, her husband, 15-year-old son and 10-yearold daughter have lived for six years.
The musty smell hits your throat the minute she opens the front door. The kitchen cupboards are black with mould and the metal work is rusting.
ASTHMA
Yesterday, she had found her son’s duvet was sodden due to damp.
She said: “It smells so badly. We try to spend as little time in here as possible during the day. We are all on inhalers, all four of us. We never used one before we moved here and there is no family history of asthma. As soon as we clean it [mould], it is back within days. It is not nice, we would like to show it clean.”
She said the housing association had visited, but simply told them to “keep the windows open”. Ana said: “We try to do this but it is getting cold. Our gas and electric bills have gone up from £50 to £107 and they are due to go up again.”
Ivana Tonga, 19, has lived in her flat all her life. Her family of five, including her one-year-olde sister, share a threebedroom flat.
She said: “The mould was spreading across the carpet and we had to replace the floor. Thewe bathroom ceiling is still covered in mould. We’ve had to repaint the ceiling.
“It has been bad as long as we have been here. The council saw it and gave us a leaflet.”
Anne-marie Scoble, 53, lives alone in her flat. There is damp everywhere.
She said: “Since I moved in two and a half years ago my lungs have been really bad. I wake up at night feeling like I am choking. I clean the mould but it comes back. This is the worst place I’ve lived. I am on a waiting list to move and I can’t wait.”
Another tenant, who did not want to give his name, said he had been stuck in his damp and mouldy apartment since he had a stroke 10 years ago.
He said: “The housing
Boy of 2 is killed by mouldy walls
association came to have a look and I thought they were going to fix it. But they told me if I didn’t like it then I could move.
“The black mould is everywhere and it is a depressing issue. I do cough, but I don’t know if it’s related.
Another resident, Tonya, has lived on the estate for more than two years and says the damp has “always been in there”. She said: “We were decorating and the wallpaper just came away and it was wet and black underneath. The plaster came away too. You can still smell it.”
Damp and mould is not universal on the estate and some tenants told us they had no problems. But more than half of those we spoke to had issues. A Rochdale Boroughwide Housing statement last
night said: “We have visited every home in Freehold to carry out a survey of each flat to check for damp or mould issues.
“As a result of these surveys, we are spending over £1.2million installing positive input ventilation units in each flat on Freehold to improve air quality, circulation and to reduce the possibility of condensation and mould.
“These works will also involve installing new extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom.
“This contract is in place now and the programme of work starts on 5 December 2022. Ana, Ivana and Annemarie have had surveys carried out on their homes and the necessary work has been scheduled.”
Tory MP Chris Clarkson told the Commons he had seen photos of another Rochdale Boroughwide
Housing home in nearby Middleton “caked in black mould and rising damp”. His constituent and her children were “severely ill because of these conditions”. Mr Clarkson said: “RBH are modern-day slumlords.”
The latest British Housing survey
found mould and damp affecting 839,000 homes. And housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway reported seeing “a dramatic increase in the case work on damp and mould” in social housing.
The problem will get worse this winter as the energy crisis makes it more expensive for the 120,000 social housing tenants and 176,000 private renters who live with mould to open windows to ventilate damp homes.
RBH chief executive Gareth Swarbrick has faced criticism over his pay, which was £185,000, including £28,000 in pension contributions, last year. Mr Swarbrick has had two pay rises in two years worth £27,000.
Jim Mcmanus, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, told the Mirror: “Sadly, the rise in energy bills means that some people will be unable to heat their homes properly this winter.
“Fuel poverty like this can lead to cold, damp living conditions causing a build up of mould and can cause serious illness. Good housing and an end to fuel poverty are essential.”
Housing Secretary Michael Gove accused RBH of a “terrible dereliction of duty”. He said he had been in touch with local MPS to discuss “finding suitable accommodation for tenants in Rochdale who are still enduring unacceptable conditions”.
He also agreed with Labour MP Diane Abbott that Awaab Ishak’s family had been “victims of prejudice”.
Mr Gove revealed that at least 2.3 million homes failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard. Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “Too many landlords are being let off the hook.” But he said he had been “encouraged by the positive response” from Mr Gove to proposals to improve housing standards.