A coroner’s findings on 15 November that the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020 was caused by the toxic black mould growing in his family’s housing association flat shone a spotlight not only on the appalling conditions faced by the poorest renters, but also on the structural racism within the housing system. As we wrote in FRFI 290, more than a quarter of all renters, overwhelmingly the poorest families, live in substandard, badly insulated homes vulnerable to cold, damp and mould. In the case of Awaab Ishak, the neglect of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) in the face of a lethal problem his family had sought time and time again to have remedied was compounded by racism. RBH claimed, completely without foundation, that the constant pools of water in the bathroom were a result of ‘ritual’ religious practices by the family, originally from Sudan, involving washing with a bucket. In a statement, the Ishak family demanded better: ‘Stop being racist. Stop providing unfair treatment to people coming from abroad who are refugees and asylum seekers.
Stop housing people in homes you know are unfit for human habitation.’ It was the practice of RBH – like many other housing associations, all of which operate as for-profit private companies – to never act on repairs until forced to do so by legal action. Labour-controlled Rochdale council completely washed its hands of any responsibility to local residents. Once again, as at Grenfell, black and working class tenants who raised complaints were treated as a nuisance. Immediate outrage at the death of Awaab forced Levelling Up Minister Michael Gove to write to providers of social housing demanding they deal with the problems of mould and condensation in their properties. But this is the rankest hypocrisy. Leaked documents seen by the Observer suggest council inspectors are to be formally instructed to examine residents’ ‘responsibility’ for problems when deciding whether or not to enforce action against landlords over dangerous conditions. These measures, due to be introduced in April 2023, will require environmental health inspectors to consider how far occupiers are themselves to blame for damp and mould, for example by placing clothes to dry on radiators without using heating, running extraction fans or opening windows to reduce condensation – or refusing to heat their home properly out of ‘stoicism’ or a desire to reduce carbon emissions (The Guardian 19 November 2022). The coroner in the case of Awaab Ishak pointed out that the landlord had placed too much emphasis ‘on the cause of the mould being due to parents’ lifestyle’.
With fuel bills already unpayable for the poorest families and the cost-of-living crisis biting deep, it is clear that many people will be unable to heat their homes adequately this winter. Medical experts have already warned of a devastating impact on children’s health and development. The President of the British Paediatric Respiratory Society, Dr Simon Langton Hewer, told The Guardian in September: ‘There will be excess deaths among some children when families are forced into not being able to heat their homes.’ There will be more cases like that of Awaab Ishak unless we organise against this inhumane and racist system to demand decent housing for all.
Cat Wiener
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 291 December 2022/January 2023
