Accommodation used to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers, often the worst in the UK when it comes to damp and mould, will be excluded from a crackdown on landlords managing social housing, the Guardian has learned.
Following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to black mould in his family’s home, the government agreed to introduce new rules – known as Awaab’s law – to force landlords to fix damp and mould problems in social housing.
According to the latest Home Office data, 118,800 asylum seekers were in receipt of accommodation and support from the Home Office and their contractors as of September 2023.
This accommodation is a mix of shared housing provided by landlords in the private rented sector and hotel accommodation. The Guardian has reported on problems of mould, damp and vermin infestations in such properties and many claim their poor living conditions have made them ill, particularly with lung conditions such as asthma.
Home Office sources said Awaab’s law, which will be introduced by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 applies only to landlords who are a registered provider of social housing and if the dwelling under the lease is categorised as social housing. Asylum accommodation does not normally fall into this category.
Bridget Young, the director of Naccom – the No Accommodation Network – which provides support in the area of accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees, said: “It is totally unacceptable that the vital measures brought in by the government through ‘Awaab’s law’, to ensure that people are protected from exposure to damp and mould in their homes, will not include asylum accommodation contractors. Housing should be safe for everyone, regardless of immigration status.
“Not extending these basic but important protections to people in asylum accommodation creates a two-tier system of housing standards that puts people seeking asylum disproportionately at risk of harm, and embeds a differential approach to the treatment of refugees in the housing sector,” she said. “It also cannot be right that Home Office accommodation contractors are allowed to make huge profits, often at the expense of people’s health and safety.”
Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, called for asylum accommodation to be included in Awaab’s law. He said: “Our services teams continue to see people, including families with babies and sick children, living in squalid properties where dangerous mould and damp is rampant.
“These dangers could be a matter of life and death. Asylum accommodation must be made subject to national housing standards and companies held to account for the shocking conditions that some people must live in.”