Reply to: Rubbish British housing kills

[vetran]

You do understand it is offensive to tell people to ventilate, heat and wipe up mould when they are already doing that?

You also understand the issues are due to lack of maintenance by the social landlord and the poor construction of the homes?

And that this issue has been around for decades? One of the videos shows a clip from 1982 with a council tenant complaining of exactly the same issues.

Sensible advice is not offensive. Mould can be tackled by ventilation, decreasing airborne moisture and something that kills it. Ventilation is achieved by opening the windows or fitting a fan, decreasing moisture by not drying clothes inside and other vapour creating activities and Vinegar is a safe treatment. The tenant needed to change their behaviour as well, the loss of their son is very sad however.

Should plumbworld be prosecuted?
https://www.plumbworld.co.uk/blog/ho...bathroom-mould

The issue here is that the housing association failed to fit a fan (not legally required) when it became clear there was a problem. Things needed to change and the CEO has so job done!

What other maintenance should the landlord do?

[Protagoras]

You do understand it is offensive to tell people to ventilate, heat and wipe up mould when they are already doing that?

No, sorry, I didn't appreciate that this was offensive, nor did I realise that they were already doing that (given the absence of ventilation / windows)

I was trying, and clearly failed, to suggest that "perhaps mould killer plus a dehumidifier would help manage the problem" while also noting that "... the landlord needed to ensure appropriate remedial action.

I apologise to anyone offended by the suggestion.

[Zigenare]

You do understand it is offensive to tell people to ventilate, heat and wipe up mould when they are already doing that?

You also understand the issues are due to lack of maintenance by the social landlord and the poor construction of the homes?

And that this issue has been around for decades? One of the videos shows a clip from 1982 with a council tenant complaining of exactly the same issues.

Offensive? Don't talk tulipe!
If people took some responsibility for where they live rather than expecting someone else to do everything for them then I would suggest half of the problems wouldn't exist.

[edison]

You do understand it is offensive to tell people to ventilate, heat and wipe up mould when they are already doing that?

You also understand the issues are due to lack of maintenance by the social landlord and the poor construction of the homes?

And that this issue has been around for decades? One of the videos shows a clip from 1982 with a council tenant complaining of exactly the same issues.

Exactly this. The Decent Homes Standard for social housing was launched in the early 2000s. I worked for a council at the time who moved their housing stock into an ALMO (arms length management organisation) and the logic was they would qualify for government funding towards refurbishing c. 25,000 homes. I left not long after the ALMO was established and to my knowledge, the refurbishment programme was never carried out to the proposed scope or quantity of properties.

[SueEllen]

Thankyou for the links. It's notable that many of the flats in the video have opening windows and are well ventilated.

You do understand it is offensive to tell people to ventilate, heat and wipe up mould when they are already doing that?

You also understand the issues are due to lack of maintenance by the social landlord and the poor construction of the homes?

And that this issue has been around for decades? One of the videos shows a clip from 1982 with a council tenant complaining of exactly the same issues.

[Protagoras]

Please watch the two Youtube videos I posted particularly the one from The Guardian with the young guy.

Thankyou for the links. It's notable that many of the flats in the video have opening windows and are well ventilated.

[SueEllen]

SueEllen, What I wrote, in response to 'minibrain' was

"It seems that the bathroom and kitchen had no windows or ventilation. If the mould arose from a lack of ventilation, then perhaps mould killer plus a dehumidifier would help manage the problem."

I certainly did not mean to imply that I considered this the complete solution, and apologise if that was the impression. I was trying to suggest a management action to contain the problem (given that mould growth is impeded if RH is reduced to <70% which I suggest is 'common knowledge')

Please watch the two Youtube videos I posted particularly the one from The Guardian with the young guy.

I see others have answered the rest of your post.

[vetran]

Whenever people bemoan the salaries of senior staff in the not for profit sector (charities, local and central government etc) they never seem to be able to suggest a suitable salary. I'm not saying this particular individual CEO deserved his salary, especially given what happened, but these types of organisations have to compete in a market to attract staff. There are plenty of IT jobs on Jobserve in the Greater Manchester area for £60-80k or more with very little responsibility. Are they all overpaid?

Try managing hundreds of people and being responsible for billions of pounds of assets. There aren't many people who can do that.

indeed precisely.

If a HA is filling its dwellings with suitable residents, looking after them & building new dwellings it is pretty much performing well.

[edison]

With medium size Housing associations having 10-20,000 dwellings each charging about £100 a week (£104 million turnover and assets of £0.5-1 billion) a CEO earning £30,000 is probably not going to be the best choice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/s...n-social-homes

Try charity CEOs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEO_co...United_Kingdom

Also realise Housing Associations are mainly self funded.

Whenever people bemoan the salaries of senior staff in the not for profit sector (charities, local and central government etc) they never seem to be able to suggest a suitable salary. I'm not saying this particular individual CEO deserved his salary, especially given what happened, but these types of organisations have to compete in a market to attract staff. There are plenty of IT jobs on Jobserve in the Greater Manchester area for £60-80k or more with very little responsibility. Are they all overpaid?

Try managing hundreds of people and being responsible for billions of pounds of assets. There aren't many people who can do that.

[vetran]

It's good to see the government taking action on this but still far too late. It's obscene to me that an organisation providing social housing has sufficient spare funds to pay a management salary of £185k.

With medium size Housing associations having 10-20,000 dwellings each charging about £100 a week (£104 million turnover and assets of £0.5-1 billion) a CEO earning £30,000 is probably not going to be the best choice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/s...n-social-homes

Try charity CEOs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEO_co...United_Kingdom

Also realise Housing Associations are mainly self funded.

[Protagoras]

(Though according to minibrain and protogoras they could all wipe the mould, open a window or use a dehumidifier )

SueEllen, What I wrote, in response to 'minibrain' was

"It seems that the bathroom and kitchen had no windows or ventilation. If the mould arose from a lack of ventilation, then perhaps mould killer plus a dehumidifier would help manage the problem."

I certainly did not mean to imply that I considered this the complete solution, and apologise if that was the impression. I was trying to suggest a management action to contain the problem (given that mould growth is impeded if RH is reduced to <70% which I suggest is 'common knowledge')

It's good to see the government taking action on this but still far too late. It's obscene to me that an organisation providing social housing has sufficient spare funds to pay a management salary of £185k.

[vetran]

Even more shaking.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ere-child-died

Michael Gove is to cut off £1m funding to the Rochdale housing association where two-year-old Awaab Ishak died from prolonged exposure to black mould, saying failing providers would not get future funding.
The levelling up secretary said Rochdale Boroughwide Housing would get no further government funding from the Affordable Home Programme or receive any new contracts. Gove has been sharply critical of the association, whose chief executive refused to resign until being sacked five days after a coroner’s report.

Gove has pledged to also block new funding to other housing providers found to be failing tenants and awarded a new £14m for enforcement teams to inspect private landlords.



Gove has written to six housing providers – Clarion, Southern Housing Group, Onward Homes, Catalyst Housing, PA Housing and Johnnie Johnson Housing – that have had recent findings of severe maladministration made against them by England’s housing ombudsman for varying problems related to cold, damp, mould, leaks and antisocial behaviour.



Hopefully no more of these -

(Though according to minibrain and protogoras they could all wipe the mould, open a window or use a dehumidifier )

not sure cutting funding is sensible. Firing people seems to be.

[WTFH]

If my child was dying I might consider going back home to where he would be healthy.

If that was too much trouble, opening a window or treating the mould could have been options.

Thus speaks a slum landlord.

[SueEllen]

Even more shaking.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ere-child-died

Michael Gove is to cut off £1m funding to the Rochdale housing association where two-year-old Awaab Ishak died from prolonged exposure to black mould, saying failing providers would not get future funding.
The levelling up secretary said Rochdale Boroughwide Housing would get no further government funding from the Affordable Home Programme or receive any new contracts. Gove has been sharply critical of the association, whose chief executive refused to resign until being sacked five days after a coroner’s report.

Gove has pledged to also block new funding to other housing providers found to be failing tenants and awarded a new £14m for enforcement teams to inspect private landlords.

</snip>

Gove has written to six housing providers – Clarion, Southern Housing Group, Onward Homes, Catalyst Housing, PA Housing and Johnnie Johnson Housing – that have had recent findings of severe maladministration made against them by England’s housing ombudsman for varying problems related to cold, damp, mould, leaks and antisocial behaviour.
</snip>


Hopefully no more of these -

(Though according to minibrain and protogoras they could all wipe the mould, open a window or use a dehumidifier )

[vetran]

The social housing regulator on Tuesday ordered all landlords with more than 1,000 homes to report their most recent assessment of the extent of damp and mould hazards, action they are taking to remedy them and to detail the process they have to identify and deal promptly with damp and mould cases when they are raised by tenants.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...ghwide-housing

excellent that should shake some trees.