One of the most tragic deaths arising from the crisis in the quality of UK housing is that of Awaab Ishak, a toddler who died a few days after his second birthday. An inquest after his death concluded he had died from a cardiac arrest that was caused by respiratory failure brought on by horrendous levels of mould in his home. [1]
The dangers of exposure to mould (species of fungi that are composed of multicellular thread like structures called hyphae) are numerous and include inflammatory effects and allergic reactions to the spores produced by mould and several health conditions linked to toxins produced by various species of mould. [2]
The growth of mould is strongly linked to the amount of available moisture, with mould growing rapidly in damp spaces – making it vital to have well ventilated buildings that are free of structural defects that might lead to leaks or rising or penetrating damp. While such issues can easily be exacerbated by common measures taken to keep fuel costs down (people using radiators to dry clothes rather than tumble dryers, keeping the windows closed to keep in the warmth etc.), it is also very easy for landlords to blame any appearance of mould on the behaviour of tenants when there are more serious faults with a building that need to be repaired. Sadly, this was the case with the Ishak family. [3]
Awaab’s death might well have been prevented if the social landlord that owned his home, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), had taken appropriate action. Instead, when Awaab’s parents complained about the mould growing in their flat in 2017, they were told to “paint over it” – a strategy that would never have worked to remove the mould in the long term without fixing the underlying damp. Despite many subsequent warnings both from Awaab’s family and from health visitors, the landlord continued not to carry out repairs.
It is worth noting that several issues with communication and policy also contributed to Awaab’s tragic death. At the time RBH had a (probably nonsensical) policy of not carrying out repairs that were subject to legal claims until agreements about the repairs had been finalised with tenants’ solicitors. Also, the solicitors who initially represented the Ishaks dropped their claim in September 2020 without telling RBH. Additionally, due to different people working for RBH using different computer systems to keep records about repair work, relevant information was not always passed on to key employees who might otherwise have been able to deal with issue before a fatality occurred.
After Awaab’s death the coroner concluded the ventilation at the property was inadequate - “a fan in the bathroom which did not work effectively, there was no mechanical ventilation in the kitchen at all. There was no window in the bathroom and the window in the kitchen opened onto the communal walkway.” The coroner also noted that professionals dealing with the mould at Awaab’s home placed " too much emphasis on the cause of the mould being due to “family lifestyle””[4]
What makes Awaab’s death even more horrendous is that the conditions his family suffered are becoming increasingly common. Christian Weaver, the barrister who represented the Ishak family at the inquest, reported that the Ishak’s flat was not even the worst property on the estate in terms of mould contamination.[5] One estimate suggests 850, 000 households with children under the age of 6 “are living with a serious, habitual mould problem at home” [6] with complaints to the housing ombudsman regarding mould in social housing doubling in the two years following Awaab’s death.[7]
And even after the death of a toddler, RBH seem reluctant to improve conditions for their tenants – with numerous complaints that the damp and mould are “worse, not better.”[8]
The disrepair in UK housing has become so dire and widespread that Amnesty International now considers them to constitute a human rights violation and have made the short film “Before Our Eyes” to raise awareness of this issue.[9]
[1] https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ways-tragic-two-year-old-25509480
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/15/what-is-black-mould-health-problems-cause
[3] https://nearlylegal.co.uk/2022/11/an-avoidable-death/
[4] https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Awaab-Ishak-Prevention-of-future-deaths-report-2022-0365_Published.pdf
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/23/awaab-ishak-death-social-housing-mould-family
[6] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/housing-poverty-energy-bills-sunak-hunt-b2457033.html#:~:text=The%20latest%20findings%20on%20housing,faced%20by%20the%20most%20vulnerable.
[7] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/02/mould-damp-complaints-social-housing-ombudsman-tenants-landlords
[8] https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/three-years-after-toddler-died-28422213?utm_source=mynewsassistant.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=embedded_search_item_desktop
[9] https://www.amnesty.org.uk/before-our-eyes