Social housing 'getting worse and worse' with cockroaches or dead mice, MPs hear

06 February 2023 , 21:37

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Awaab Ishak died following prolonged exposure to mould which led to fatal breathing difficulties (Image: MEN Media)

Problems with social housing are getting "worse and worse", MPs were told today.

Housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa said he receives messages “every day” and “every night” of “countless situations” where people are living in appalling conditions.

Speaking to the housing committee, he told MPs: "I've taken people to hospital I've had to take people to A&E because ceilings have collapsed on them.

"There's been damp, there's been mould, infestations of cockroaches. I've opened people's ovens and cockroaches crawling out, dead mice, ceilings collapse, homes flooded, ceilings missing - vulnerable children living in these conditions, vulnerable adults living in these conditions.

"I've been stood in one home where I was about an inch and a half deep in the raw sewage... All of these people reached out to me because they were ignored at multiple levels.

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"But honestly the list could go on. Some of the things that I've seen have been described as not even fit for animals to live in, never mind human beings."

Housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa (Phil Harris)

Kwajo, who himself has lived in inhumane social housing conditions, said there has been an “influx this year”.

He said the regulator needs to start “seriously” holding landlords and providers to account, adding that it “can’t just be a slap on the wrist” but needs to be proper penalties.

The housing campaigner, who has more than 70,000 followers on Twitter alone, said tenants aren't being listened to.

He said some have complained for as long as 10 years and aren't moved - yet as soon as he shames the housing provider on social media, people are moved out within 24 hours.

“It goes to show it can happen but for some reason it takes shaming for that to happen and takes shaming by people with big social media platforms… if it was a social housing tenant, they'd simply just be ignored,” he said.

MPs then grilled the regulator - who faced particular questioning over the housing association of a mould-covered property having been awarded the highest rating even though two-year-old Awaab Ishak had died after living there.

Labour MP Clive Betts, who is chair of the housing committee, said the tragic death showed Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) "clearly had major problems".

RBH has been slammed for failing to tackle damp (MEN Media)

He said: "Six months after his death, you gave RBH’s governance the highest grade possible. That doesn’t look like a regulator on top of the job, really going for an organisation with a very poor record, an appalling record in this case."

Jonathan Walters, deputy chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, insisted they had to wait for the coroner's report, which did not end up coming until two years later, at the end of 2022.

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He said: "We obviously knew the death had happened… it was important that we have the evidence from the coroner before we came to that conclusion."

Mr Betts pointed out that it was clear there were red flags, questioning how the official government body could have still awarded it the top rating after the death had taken place.

He said: "If it'd been a happier circumstances and that young boy hadn't died, you wouldn't have done anything at all because you wouldn’t have had a coroner's report to act on."

Mr Betts questioned whether the regulator had no concerns whatsoever about RBH.

Mr Walters responded: "I wouldn't say we had no concerns whatsoever" and added: "As far as we were aware, at the time, Rochdale borough wide housing was a well governed organisation that transpired not to be the case."

At the end of 2022, a coroner ruled that Awaab's death had been caused by prolonged exposure to the toxic black mould in his home.

Mr Walters added: "We expect and we require all providers to be open and transparent and honest with us and where we have evidence of providers haven't been, as we did in Rochdale, it became became apparent after the coroner's report that the Rochdale had not been open and transparent with us... then we take that very seriously."

The regulator downgraded RBH in December, two years after Awaab's death.

RBH finally surveyed other properties on the estate a few months before. They found that almost 80% of those had signs of damp and mould.

The Mirror is campaigning for urgent action to end the housing hell experienced by millions of people.

Across the country people are trapped in substandard homes - many of which pose a threat to health or life.

Figures released just over a month ago found there are 3.4million homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.

This includes an estimated 2.2million properties that have at least one Category 1 hazard and 941,000 that have serious damp.

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Sophie Huskisson