At one point Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, addressed what had been found in some of her members’ properties. She was clear that the conditions found during the ITV investigations were unacceptable and that the landlords featured were taking it “extremely seriously”.
She said that while there was no excuse for damp and mould, she went on to explain the three main causes for damp and mould.
Number one is condensation in homes where residents cannot properly heat or ventilate their homes. The second is the structure of the building: Ms Henderson said that this is often complicated to rectify and in many cases the solution is regeneration.
Her final reason was overcrowding driven by the lack of affordable housing. She said that overcrowded homes increase the chance of damp and mould in a property, and that more homes need to be built.
You can’t dispute that these are all causes of damp and mould. However, it felt like there was one glaring omission from Ms Henderson’s list: landlord inaction.
As the ITV investigation and the ombudsman’s report, which assessed 410 reports into landlords, the sector’s actions are one of the biggest factors for the prevalence and escalation of damp and mould issues.
While L&Q did not directly cause the damp and mould at Mr Jimoh’s home, its inactivity in getting it sorted made the situation for Mr Jimoh worse.
The sector needs to grasp the nettle, and do so quickly.
With eye-watering energy prices increasing the chance of tenants leaving their heating turned off to save money, the environment is there for instances of damp and mould to be more prevalent. If the sector continues to act in the way outlined by the ombudsman in its seminal report, there will be tens of thousands of people living in misery in the final winter months.
But the first stage of fixing a problem is admitting you have one.
Hopefully, events over the past 12 months mean the sector is starting to do this. Clearly, however, there is still some way to go.
Jack Simpson, news editor
Editor’s picks: five must-read stories
- Kwajo Tweneboa interview: ‘Poor conditions have been brushed under the carpet for so long’
- Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund winning bids revealed
- Who is new housing minister Stuart Andrew?
- G15 landlord sees number of unsold homes hit 855 amid COVID-related delays
- Why has diversity progress stalled?
Credit: Source link
