Fresh concerns have been raised over a housing association’s record on tackling damp and mould - with one family choosing to leave and live in a homeless shelter due to the state of their property. Stockport Homes was told to ‘up its game’ earlier this year following the tragic case of Rochdale toddler Awaab Ishak, whose death was directly linked to the problem.
Councillors passed a motion in January calling on the landlord to act on complaints ‘without delay’ after members heard of a case where a child’s bedroom was affected, while another tenant was told to ‘wipe it off’. The group, which manages more than 12,000 council and privately-let properties, insisted it was dedicated to ‘the maintenance of safe, secure and sustainable homes’.
But a full council meeting on Wednesday night heard stories of residents' battles with damp in their homes - including one woman living in a mould-infested house who says she has suffered with pneumonia 11 times and a family who had to leave due to the condition of their home.
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Stockport Homes' bosses pointed to the ‘additional measures’ they had introduced, such as ‘proactively’ contacting tenants that have reported damp in the last 18 months and awareness training for staff. Tom Bowker, Stockport Homes’ executive director of operations, accepted the ‘bar had been raised’ since the Awaab Ishak case and said the landlord had reviewed all its policies, procedures and approach to damp and mould.
“We adopt a zero tolerance approach to damp and mould,” he told councillors. “We never say any damp and mould is acceptable and we never say it’s as a result of customers’ lifestyles.
“These are real issues we need to tackle and we will always try to do that.”
But some councillors said the reality did not always match the assurances Mr Bowker had given during his presentation. Coun Kate Butler relayed the case of an ‘extremely vulnerable young woman’ in her Reddish North ward whose home had been blighted by white mould.
She said the ‘scrupulously clean’ woman had suffered pneumonia 11 times in the last two years and her ‘increasingly deteriorating mental health’ was entirely down to the state of the flat she was living in.
Coun Butler recently contacted the woman to see whether the issue had been satisfactorily addressed. “She broke down in tears because things have not improved to a state, or at a speed, that both of us were expecting,” she said.
“I’m pleased to see you have a rapid response, but I would ask how rapid is that response when someone has been waiting something like nine months to have their flat sorted out from start to finish?”
Coun Butler also gave the example of a family of ‘recent immigrants’ from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She explained the couple and their three children were living in a privately-rented house ‘through the good work’ of Stockport Homes.
However, she said the condition of the home was so bad - with damp and wallpaper peeling off the walls - that they preferred to go and live in a shelter for homeless families.
Coun Andy Sorton told Mr Bowker he had represented Brinnington and Central - among the wards with the most social housing in the borough - for the last 11 years. He accepted Stockport Homes did ‘a lot of good things’ - but claimed the landlord was reluctant to own up when things went wrong.
He gave the example of a 74-year-old resident living in a bungalow for the past four years where ‘water was coming down the ceiling and water coming down the walls’. “Whoever has been coming out to see that property has been doing it in the name of Stockport Homes, whoever has been surveying that property has been doing it in the name of Stockport Homes,” he said.
“I’m afraid some of the things that you have said on there [the presentation] are just not my experience, John. I don’t take pleasure in saying that, I just hope we can get things right for the people that live in those properties and for the people at Stockport Homes and the officers that are going round to see those people as well.”
Coun Sorton suggested having ‘independent checks’ from outside Stockport Homes and the council would increase confidence that the landlord’s performance was being properly scrutinised.
“You do a lot of things right, but I would say you need some independent eyes on this going forward,” he added.
Mr Bowker said that while Stockport Homes would not always get everything right, it had given the ‘utmost priority’ to the issue and ‘relooked’ at all its processes in light of the Awaab Ishak case and the latest ombudsman guidance.
He told councillors he was comfortable the organisation’s approach would stand up to scrutiny, but it would always strive to learn and do its best to put things right if things have gone wrong.
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