Another victory in Awaab's name

Almost four years on from his tragic and preventable death, real change is now set to come into force.

It will mark yet another victory in a long-running campaign dedicated to honour the life of a two year-old Rochdale boy - and make sure what happened to him and his family can never happen again.

Angela Rayner, the MP for Ashton and the Deputy Prime Minister, will on Sunday (September 22) announce a package of measures to ensure decent homes for all in her speech to the Labour Party's annual conference. It follows her announcement at the end of July of a raft of measures to support social and affordable housebuilding, including by introducing more flexibilities in the current Affordable Housing Programme and reforms to Right to Buy.

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Put simply, it's a package of measures and reforms to ensure homes are decent, warm and safe - everything Awaab Ishak's home wasn't. Tenants will be given rights not to be ignored.

Awaab's Law - championed by the Manchester Evening News after we first revealed details of a case that shocked the country - will now be in place, probably by the autumn.

The package is expected to include a new law aimed at ensuring landlords respond to reports of hazards like damp and mould swiftly.

The proposed legislation, Awaab's Law, is named after two-year-old Awaab, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented. Labour estimates it would support tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards to secure faster repairs, reducing health and safety risks.

Awaab, who lived with his parents Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin in a flat on Rochdale's Freehold estate, died in December 2020, just days after his second birthday, following prolonged exposure to mould and damp. His parents, a coroner said at an inquest into his death, repeatedly raised concerns about the state of their home with the landlord, but nothing was done.

A damming report later found the Ishak family were 'not seen at all' by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) - and said 'their entire treatment was based on assumptions as to who they were and how they lived'.

One former member of staff reported to the Housing Ombudsman that a manager said living with mould was 'ok and acceptable'.

A subsequent inquest into Awaab's death heard the fan in the bathroom hadn't been functioning for two years - a fact reported by the family.

The toilet was leaking and continually discharging; there was no ventilation or extractor fan in the kitchen and there was no secure outside drying options for clothing.

The coroner at the toddler's inquest said his death 'will and should be a defining moment for the housing sector in terms of increasing knowledge, increasing awareness and a deepening of understanding surrounding the issue of damp and mould'. Awaab's Law has been a long time coming since then, but now appears closer than ever.

Opening the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool Ms Rayner, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, is expected to commit to 'building homes fit for the future' as she announces a package of measures to ensure homes are decent, warm, and safe.

The move to protect private renters, social and housing tenants also comes after the publication of the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report earlier this month, more than seven years after the devastating fire that claimed 72 lives.

The package of measures includes bringing forward legislation on Awaab's Law this autumn, so hazards such as damp and mould are identified and remedied to set timescales. The Government said it would implement Awaab's Act for social housing and extend protections to the private rented sector through the Renter’s Rights Bill.

"Whilst many housing associations and councils do their best to support tenants, too many have been let down for too long stuck in substandard and even dangerous homes and we’ve seen the devastating consequences," Ms Rayner is due to say on Sunday. "The work of change has begun."

The deputy PM is expected to tell delegates it isn't just about building houses, but 'making houses people can call home'.

"This means ending the scandalous situation where standards for existing and future tenants don’t currently even meet the minimum of safety and decency everyone should expect," she'll say.