Mould leaves four-year-old girl struggling to breathe

Home being repaired after investigation by The Independent

- NADINE WHITE

A four-year-old girl hospitalised after living in mould-ridden squalour has escaped her damp and overcrowded London flat following an investigation by The Independent. Zainab Hamid suffered terrible breathing problems as a result of the black mould covering the walls and ceilings of the one-bedroomed housing association flat she shared with her parents and three siblings.

She has been plagued by multiple throat infections, “continuous mouth breathing” and inadequate sleep over the past year, which ended up with the little girl being hospitalised. Despite repeated complaints from her parents and a doctor’s note directly attributing her illness to the mould, Zainab and her family were only told they would be moved into new temporary accommodation when the issue was highlighted by The Independent.

Urgent repairs will be carried out to the property and, once it is free of mould, the family will be able to move back in. The housing association is also now trying to find a larger, permanent home for the family. The shocking case follows that of tragic toddler Awaab Ishak, two, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Michael Gove described the death of the boy as an “unacceptable tragedy” – insisting there is “no way” a house with damp and mould “can be considered to be a decent home” for a child. The levelling up secretary has vowed to make sure local authorities and housing associations are “held to account” over unfit homes, amid growing outrage about conditions faces by many renters across the country.