Why social housing providers need to start taking mould seriously
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Why social housing providers need to start taking mould seriously
Its killing people
On the 14th June 2017 a terrible tragedy happened, Grenfell Tower caught on fire killing 72 people. It was one of the saddest tragedies in British history. After Grenfell, the British people said never again and were extremely angry. Social housing providers leapt to make sure they were taking fire safety seriously. Housing associations wanted to make sure that the tragedy of Grenfell never happens in one of their properties.
Another tragedy hit British news recently, a toddler named Awaab Ishak died due to mould in his family's social housing accommodation. His father repeatedly raised the issue with their social housing provider and they did nothing to fix it and as a result a toddler died.
Mould in houses is a serious issue that can affect anyone with respiratory issues, the elderly, and young children. Social housing is supposed to be there to help people in need, not kill them. Many of the social housing supply in the West Midlands is not up to scratch with being free from mould.
What we need is a Grenfell style push to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again. Social housing providers need to take responsibility and address this silent killer in their houses.
What is frustrating is some social housing providers do it much better than others. As someone who grew up in social housing on the Bournville Village Trust (BVT) estate, I knew if we had any issues BVT would fix it and they took extremely good care of their properties as well as charging extremely cheap rents.
What is extremely sad to hear is that residents in Birmingham City Council homes have complained about living in mould ridden houses.
Why can’t Birmingham City Council take as good of care of their properties when private social housing providers like BVT are showing them up in their own city?
Birmingham City Council is the largest social housing provider in the country and many residents are living in mould ridden conditions. If the death of Awaab Ishak isn’t enough to get this issue taken seriously then what is?
What has been good is that people from both parties have called for more action and there does seem to be a bipartisan effort to get this issue resolved.
Birmingham City Council have said they are spending £27 million on improving thermal efficiency in their homes which is welcomed. However many Council house residents just wish when they made a complaint it was resolved.