Former children’s commissioner warns of prejudice against social housing tenants after Awaab Ishak’s death

Prejudice against social housing tenants means that complaints about sub-standard living conditions are too often ignored, a former children’s commissioner has warned in the wake of the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.

Anne Longfield said that the two-year-old’s death because of exposure to mould should be a “defining moment” in how Britain wants to live as a country.

Housing secretary Michael Gove has written to every council leader and social housing provider in England to warn that deaths like that of Awaab must “never be allowed to happen again”.

Ms Longfield said she had heard a “very, very common message from families... that they ring, they complain, they get ignored, they have to wait months and years, and nothing happens – and if it happens, it’s not fixed properly”.

There is an “element of prejudice” in how tenants are treated, she said.

She warned: “It is part of the misery that we have of children growing up in poverty, and I think we have to use this as a defining moment – not only for social housing, but also a defining moment for what we want as a country.”

Social housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa agreed, saying that the problem of stigma surrounding social housing tenants is cultural, and that “racism and class does massively come into it”. He also denounced as a “disgrace” the fact that Gareth Swarbrick, the chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, had refused to resign over the toddler’s death.

Awaab died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one-bedroom housing association flat where he lived with his parents. In the end Mr Swarbrick was removed from his position on Saturday.

Mr Tweneboa described the case as “absolutely horrific” and said the child had “paid the ultimate price for corporate neglect by his landlord”. He told Sophy Ridge on Sky News: “I don't think we’re being tough enough with bad landlords. I think, to avoid cases like this, we honestly need criminal charges now.”

Mr Gove’s letter asks local councils to supply his department with an assessment of damp and mould issues in their privately rented properties. They have also been asked to list the number of civil penalty notices and successful prosecutions pursued in relation to dangerous damp and mould.

Mr Gove said the child’s case had “rightly shocked people across the country”, adding: “This is an appalling case of the utmost gravity, and it is abhorrent that anyone should have to live in such conditions in Britain today.”