The council has diverted maintenance staff from paintwork jobs and taken on extra workers to reduce the backlog of damp and mould cases in council homes across the city.
Brighton and Hove City Council is using damp surveyors to prioritise cases and has employed a specialist team to work on more complex cases of penetrating mould.
Council officers have also been reminded not to blame damp issues on tenants’ lifestyles, which it’s feared has put people off reporting problems in the past.
The measures were highlighted during council meetings this week, when the issue was raised in the light of the high-profile death of Awaab Ishak, two, in Rochdale due to prolonged exposure to toxic mould.
At last week’s full council meeting, Labour councillor Amanda Grimshaw raised the issue and asked what was being done to tackle mould in council properties.
In a written response, Housing Committee chairs Councillors Siriol Hugh-Jones and David Gibson said that the council would escalate high risk and high impact cases quickly.
They said: “In addition to making sure that our front-line teams are equipped to triage cases, in particular should there be health concerns, we wish to ensure that our tenants and residents don’t have barriers to reporting issues.
“The current advice is to remove mould as soon as it forms using household cleaners.
“This is the advice that we include in our Combating Condensation leaflet along with various tips and lifestyle adjustments that could significantly reduce the amount of moisture produced within properties which subsequently reduces the risk of mould forming.
“This advice is aimed at small quantities of mould and is intended to advise tenants how to manage it in their homes.
“This self-treatment is not instead of a response from the council’s Housing Repairs and Maintenance service.”
Moulsecoomb and Bevendean councillors also highlighted the issue at a meeting of the full council and at the north area housing management panel on Wednesday, 14 December.
Councillor Kate Knight said: “Collectively we are the landlords of these properties. I cannot be the only one in the room ashamed of that.
“Brighton and Hove City Council are also too willing to blame tenants for the situation they find themselves in. This is now literally a matter of life and death.
“How have our priorities changed since we found out the result of that inquest?”
Councillor Amanda Grimshaw said that she has received five reports of damp and mould cases from Moulsecoomb and Bevendean tenants just in the last week, with washing taking four or five days to dry and tenants afraid to use their heating due to energy costs.
Coldean and Hollingdean residents associations are getting together to survey tenants about their mould and damp problems, while also encouraging them to report these issues as repairs jobs to the council.
Representative Heather Hayes said that, in the past, council tenants have been reluctant to report these issues in the past for fear of the problem being blamed on tenants’ lifestyle.
Ms Hayes asked: “A lot of these homes are 1950s properties which have damp and mould. Are you going to be asking the government for the money to bring them up to decent homes standards?”
Martin Reid, assistant director for housing management said: “At this point we’re doing two things, we’re writing a letter to government to ask for more resources, and to comply with the regulator for social housing we’re dealing with the issues in our own housing stock.”
So, here we go again with B&H Council ignoring everything until they are shamed into doing something. The council (and this is officers rather than councillors) only recognises a problem when a toddler dies elsewhere, there is massive publicity and the Sec of State writes to councils about the issue B&H Council are shamed into some kind of action by councillors getting involved.
However, officers are now diverting staff from other maintenance jobs on council housing stock to the damp/mould issue, employing damp experts. more contractors etc, so that looks like yet another overspend on some budget or other.
I don’t know how many times I have to say this – and I have said it many times over – councillors should get a grip on employed officers, which they may just be doing, very belatedly, and if these employees are not doing their jobs properly, they should be dismissed.
Council doesn’t do a lot: that’s bad. Council starts doing a lot: that’s also bad.
No wonder you’re fed up, nothing satisfies you!
Damp is usually caused by lifestyle; drying clothes in unventilated rooms etc. More of a problem now as it’s expensive to open windows.
brighton council was aware that Wolburn pace Brighton and chepston court brighton have big problems with damp and subsidence ,They surveyed wolburn place over seventeen years ago ,and was told the block of flats has subsidence and the damp course bhas gone since then due to brighton council caring more about money than humans health well since then ALBERT a oman unable to take on the council died in his flat he would be woken up evrry night due to dising damp hitting the awfull central heating system thats been done on the cheap to who ever contracter could do the job te cheapest .well at three am the damp hits the radiators turns to steam ,By four you are woken up and cant get back to sleap untill theres a humidity change ,hence day time ,Well Albert would sleep by day ,causiing him to not be aware of day and night ,he had a lung ingection due to the humidity ,Well he went to the local shop to get a news paper thinking it was day time ,Winter still dark ,he waited for the shop to open it was in fact night ,he got ill came home and died in the same place im sitting now ,I Now after seven years are very ill cant breath on so many breathing inhalers and have bin in and out of hospital three times in the last seven weeks .I have had a council damp contracter come out they have said once again the damp course has gone ,What does Brighton council expect it to fix its self .They dont care as disabled humans old ladies humans with mental health problems live in the said flats ,, This is a breach of our human rights the right to life and a happy life ,The right to accomidation ,Its a human right ,The council of Brighton are a private corperation that only care about money ,This building should have been knocked down years ago ,Built in 1969 we are living in slum conditions in the year 2024 and i cant sleep look after myself as im exausted all the time getting four hours sleep in every twenty four ,The council is us we are the humans and we have rights ,im disabled and they put me in this hell of a place to die being aware over seventeen years pluss ago this building has damp course gone cracks every where rats and subsidence .If any one knows about what damp companys the joke of a Brighton council uses please contact me as i have to get the evidence of this man who said the damp course has gone ,i should have took his name and company when he came ,Brighton council is doing what it does best one law for them another for humans ,It doesnt seem to matter if in 2024 we dont stick to the human rights act brighton council do what they do best white wash cover up and in generl take forever doing repairs Caroline lucas green party ,um doesnt seem to be able to find out who came around ,after all it should be on record as us tax payers paid for it ,I CANT Get no sence out of repairs there a joke they take so long in getting out to do repairs .What starts as a leaking sink turns out by time they repair the sink the whole unit has to be changed ,and who pays for there bad time keeping us the tax payers ,somthing has to be done ,We are the council ,I took five years to get more bins they would rather send out a clean up team every week rather than use common sence and put more bins in ,I told them five years ago stop wasting tax payers money these flats was built for one human ,old ladies in fact to free up housing where these old ladys was living in three four room houses they knocked these flats up so fast i have spoken to friends that are 88 that saw how fast they built these flats ,now theres as many as three living in a one bedroom flat ,so it makes sence have three times as many bins ,no the council cant do that we still have problems with to much rubbish ,This block of flats should be rebuilt , I know exactly how and using modern materials ,We really have to move with the times be a example to the world show them how to build a block of flats thats of grid and can sustane itself ,I May be disabled but i know so much about green power5 hydrogen ,nephane methane plant free green power grow our own food ,just because we disabled should not be the case we are second class humans ,The world all over is in melt down and i have seen too many humans die and are deaths soon to come probally my life next as i keep getting lung infections in and out of hospital and we ask ourselves why is the nhs a mess because of the coruption in goverment and the rich getting richer and the poor being left to die ,please email me if you can point me in the direction of who surveyes the damp for Brighton council or any one that can help wake up this awfull council ,They seem to pack over seas studence in and build them nice flats but dont care about disabled and the old ,,sorry if i miss spell im very dislexic ,