Keeping your home healthy this winter

TV presenter and Welsh pub owner Martin Roberts explains to Lisa Salmon how damp and mouldy homes are making residents ill and gives some tips on how to tackle the problem

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AS PRESENTER of the BBC's Homes Under the Hammer, Martin Roberts has seen all sorts of property problems. But one of the most common and health-damaging issues he comes across is damp, mould and cold in homes.

New data from Health Equals, which campaigns to improve health inequalities, has found 28% of people in the UK are living in homes with damp, mould or cold.

And in the long-term, damp, mouldy homes can cause or worsen existing health conditions such as asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular issues, and even mental health conditions like stress, anxiety and depression.

At its worst, inadequate housing can cause death, as in the case of Awaab Ishak, aged two, who died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in 2020.

The toddler's death led to Awaab's Law, which requires social housing landlords to urgently investigate and fix serious housing problems like damp and mould within strict timeframes, coming into force in England last month.

In Wales, the Public Services Ombudsman last month found failings within councils in Cardiff and Flintshire regarding multiple complaints from tenants about damp and mould in their homes.

In one case, complaints had been made over nearly four years.

Health Equals found almost half (47%) of people who've experienced issues like damp or mould have reported symptoms caused by it, and it says lives are being cut short by up to 16 years in parts of the UK, with damp, cold and mould in homes being partly responsible.

"We're trying to get people to recognise the direct link between the environment they live in at home and their health, and specifically, damp, mould, and cold," explains Roberts, who owns the former Hendrewen Hotel and Pub in Blaencwm, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

It's an issue he feels so strongly about that he's supporting a new Health Equals campaign to fix unhealthy homes by pressing for cross-governmental measures to help keep damp, cold and mould at bay.