An average of 64 council tenants are reporting mould and damp problems in their homes every day after the council encouraged them to come forward.
Up to 3,700 people have reported problems since Stoke-on-Trent City Council launched a crackdown campaign in November. The council made a dedicated website page to easily report problems and promised a speedy response.
Speaking at a full council meeting this week, leader Jane Ashworth said repairs teams had visited 3,600 of these properties. She added that funding had also been secured to carry out additional work on 100 of the council’s worst affected properties.
She said: "It is totally unacceptable for families to be risking serious health issues by living in damp, mouldy, cold conditions in a very rich country such as ours.”
Ashworth added that she is “passionate about improving housing conditions for all our residents” and acknowledged that housing quality has “a huge impact on people's physical and mental health and wellbeing”.
Exposure to black mould can cause respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma and can affect the immune system. Long-term exposure can exacerbate problems and can sometimes be fatal. Babies, the elderly and those with existing respiratory or immune system problems can be worse affected.
In 2020, two-year-old Awaab Ishak died after prolonged exposure to mould at his home in Rochdale. Last year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to a mother whose daughter’s asthma was affected by damp in her council property.
The issues were reported in 2020 and were ongoing in 2022. The Housing Ombudsman found “severe maladministration” in how the council had handled the tenant’s complaint.
On launching the campaign in November, Ashworth said: “We have a responsibility to ensure all our residents can live in safe, dry and warm homes and we are taking that extremely seriously.
“From now on, we will be treating damp and mould as a serious housing safety issue. We will respond more quickly to reports, tackle problems before they escalate and give our residents all the support they need to reduce damp and mould in their own homes.”
Last year the council also announced a £117 million capital investment programme for improvement works on 14,500 council-owned properties over the next five years. Around £50.6 million was earmarked be spent on ensuring all council homes meet the national ‘Decent Homes’ standard.
The work is intended to help tackle the main causes of damp and mould through replacement roofs, upgrading insulation and the installation of new boilers.
This week Ashworth announced further funding has been secured from the government's social housing development fund “to improve the quality of about 100 council-owned homes in the city, on top of the work we're already doing for damp and mould.”
This will include cavity and external wall insulation, ventilation and double glazing, she said.
Tenants with private landlords face additional barriers to getting improvements made on their homes, although the council encourages them to report these in the same way on their dedicated webpage.
This week Stoke-on-Trent Live reported on GP’s calls to rehouse a single mother and her son after linking their living conditions to the three-year-old’s poor health.
To report damp or mould in your council or privately rented property click here.
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