‘People are worried’: York families living in damp council homes fear for their children’s health

City of York Council will take a “worst first” approach to around 120 homes which have significant damp problems, a housing boss said.

Along with all social housing providers in the country, York has been told it must take “prompt action” to tackle damp and mould by levelling up secretary Michael Gove following the death of Awaab Ishak.

A coroner last month concluded the two-year-old died of a respiratory condition caused by mould and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing did nothing to solve the issue.

Director of economy, regeneration and housing Tracey Carter said the case had shone a light on the issue, but that it was not a new problem.

She added: “We’ve had a known problem with damp in a number of our housing properties for some time now.

“We live in a flat area, part of which is reclaimed from bog. We have high water tables and we flood – that geographical issue is quite a big one for the city.”

The council has carried out major works on nearly 600 properties since 2016 that suffer from standing water.

But one tenant complained that not enough was being done to tackle damp in houses on the Bell Farm estate.

Work on the standing water programme there was suddenly halted at the last minute earlier this year because the council ran “could not find the resources”- leaving them with black mould in their properties. The works have been “reprogrammed”.

No heating

Bell Farm Community Association chair Hilary Platt told a housing scrutiny meeting: “With the increases in utility costs, many will not be in the position to put their heating on taught the winter, which could make matters even worse than they currently are.

“People are worried about their children not being put at risk of death by their housing situation.”

Heworth ward Labour councillor Bob Webb said metre readings on some walls in Bell Farm were recording damp levels of 50 per cent – when they should read at around four per cent.

“In York, the Lib Dem – Green administration have been tactically ignoring this problem in favour of pet projects elsewhere,” he added.

Committee vice-chair Coun Michael Pavlovic said it was important to avoid “lazy stereotypes” about people’s lifestyles being responsible for damp.

Executive member for housing Coun Denise Craghill said she had regular meetings about the issue and said the council was prioritising the worst cases and improving communication with residents.

The meeting was told that work on 13 properties was scheduled for this financial year, with work on 107 due to go to a new contractor to be appointed next year.

The council is also urging tenants to report cases of damp and mould to them.

Ms Carter said it was just one problem that can affect homes and that a few black spots were not a cause for alarm, but added that cases like Awaab Ishak were the ones that kept her awake at night.

She added: “I don’t think that we’re in that situation, by a stretch of the imagination. Are we perfect? No. Do we have work to do? Yes.”