27 December 2023 , 00:01
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Nearly three in 10 people are living in mouldy homes, which is risking their health.
This includes an estimated 3.4 million who have young children in the house or who are pregnant. The findings from the Warm This Winter campaign has led to calls for urgent action to keep families safe from cold and mould.
Mould, often caused by damp or cold, can produce spores and toxins that are harmful to health. Warm This Winter found 29% have mould in their homes frequently or occasionally. The data suggests homes in cities towards the west of the country, including Cardiff, Bristol and Liverpool, are more likely to suffer.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “These chilling findings underline why we need to help households stay warm this winter. Vulnerable households, including young families and expectant mothers, are struggling because of ministers’ failure to provide emergency financial assistance this winter.”
He pointed to “longer term failures to invest in the permanent solutions to fuel poverty, such as insulation and reform of energy pricing”. The tragic case of two-year-old Awaab Ishak highlights the dangers of a mouldy home.
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Awaab died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by excessive mould in a one-bed flat in Rochdale, Gtr Manchester, where he lived with his parents. The NHS advises all young children should be kept away from mould and damp.
A crisis of cold homes, made worse by a surge in energy bills, comes as regulator Ofgem’s price cap for millions of households is set to rise to an average £1,928 a year from January. The more serious the damp and mould problem in a home, and the longer left untreated, the worse the health impacts are likely to be.
Rachel Kirby-Rider, chief executive of the charity Young Lives vs Cancer, said: “No child should be living in damp or mouldy housing, but for some of the children and young people with cancer we support, this is the reality. For them, infection risk is high, and living in a house that is damp or has mould increases this risk and other health impacts, leading to hospital admissions or worse.”