Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, has written to all social housing providers and council leaders in England to put them “on notice” that the government will block funding to all providers which fail to meet regulator standards.

These new measures are being rolled out following a coroner ruling that the death of two year old Awaab Ishak was caused by exposure to mould in his home, managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH).  As a consequence of its failings, RBH will not receive £1m of funding from the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), a government scheme which provides grants towards the costs of building affordable housing.

Awaab died in December 2020, after developing a respiratory condition as a result of the poor condition of the social housing his family was living in.  At the inquest into his death, evidence was heard that, from 2017, his parents repeatedly raised concerns with RBH about mould in their one bedroom flat, but no action was taken, save that they were told to paint over an area where mould had developed.

Under the new plans, any housing provider which does not meet standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing will not receive any new funding from the AHP until it has demonstrated that improvements have been made.  Providers which breach regulator standards will also be stripped of existing funding, except where construction has already begun.

The government has said RBH will not receive any new AHP contracts, until it is able to "prove it is a responsible landlord".  It added that standards for RBH tenants would be monitored "closely".

Mr Gove said RBH had "failed its tenants" and would "not receive a penny of additional taxpayers' money for new housing until it gets its act together and does right by tenants".  He said that housing providers should carry out assessments of damp and mould in their properties and take "prompt action" to keep tenants safe when concerns were raised.

RBH acknowledged in a public statement that it had "got things badly wrong" and said the "whole organisation… is completely focused on putting things right for our customers".  It committed to "now significantly accelerate inspection of every single home we visit for damp and mould, and we will take immediate action where needed".

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