Government reacts to damp housing which led to tragic death of young boy
The government has announced that the Housing Association which failed to treat mould which contributed to the death of Awaab Ishak is to be stripped of new government funding.
Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, recently announced that Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) will not be receiving the £1 million funding from the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) or any new AHP contracts for new homes until an investigation by the Regulator of Social Housing finds it is a “responsible landlord”. The government announced that housing standards across all RBH tenancies will be monitored to ensure appropriate housing is being provided.
In order to tackle poor quality of housing Gove has also announced he will block any housing provider that breaches the Regulator’s consumer standards from new AHP funding until they make improvements, as well as consider stripping providers of existing AHP funding.
The announcement comes after Michael Gove wrote to all councils and housing associations, saying they must raise the bar dramatically on standards and demanding urgent action where people complain about damp and mould.
The measures were not just limited to social housing as the government has today awarded a share of £14 million for seven areas with high numbers of poor privately rented homes to crack down on rogue landlords and test new approaches to driving up standards. Projects include:
- £2.3 million for Greater Manchester – including Rochdale and surrounding councils – to increase the use of fines where a landlord is found to have committed an offence
- £678,000 for Leeds to use behavioural science to change culture among landlords, improving knowledge and skills
- £1.14 million for Cornwall to create a database of private rented accommodation in the area and record standards to target better enforcement action.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said:
“RBH failed its tenants so it will not receive a penny of additional taxpayers’ money for new housing until it gets its act together and does right by tenants.
Let this be a warning to other housing providers who are ignoring complaints and failing in their obligations to tenants. We will not hesitate to act.
Everyone deserves the right to live in safe, decent home and this government will always act to protect tenants.”
The Regulator of Social Housing has demanded evidence from all housing association and local authority landlords this week, showing they are identifying and dealing with damp and mould issues in their homes. The Regulator will take action where standards are not being met.
Further powers have also been planned in the Social Housing Regulation Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, which aims to ensure tenants’ complaints are listened to and dealt with quickly and fairly, with new powers for the Housing Ombudsman to take action on complaints.
In addition to this, the bill would give the a regulator powers to enter properties with only 48 hours’ notice and make emergency repairs where there is a serious risk to tenants and the landlord has failed to act, with landlords footing the bill, and make sure tenants know their rights and can hold housing providers to account.
