Housing campaigners Haringey hold mould protest

London Renters Union Haringey held a ‘Moulden Globes’ award ceremony outside Haringey Council’s offices reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Protestors from London Renters Union outside Haringey Council's offices. — A protestor with a face mask of council leader Peray Ahmet collects a ‘Moulden Globe’ award – (Credit – Julia Dagg)

A campaign group has staged a protest over the state of council homes in Haringey.

Julia Dagg, a member of London Renters Union Haringey (LRU), who organised the protest, was among those demonstrating outside Haringey Council’s Wood Green office last Friday (4th).

Julia told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the group had hosted a ‘Moulden Globes’ awards in response to Haringey being ranked one of the “mouldiest boroughs in England”. She added that they had used props, which included a person wearing a mask of council leader Peray Ahmet to accept the award.

In March, Haringey topped a table for damp and mould complaints in England. The results were collected by comparison website Uswitch, which found eight of the ten worst local authorities in England were London councils.

At the time, Sarah Williams, the deputy leader and cabinet member for housing and planning, said the data presented an “inaccurate picture” but the council was “focused” on giving its tenants and leaseholders “good quality, secure homes.”

Speaking about LRU’s focus on shifting “shame”, Julia said: “For a lot of people there’s a lot of shame around talking publicly about disrepair, mould and damp, it’s your home no one wants to live like that.”

She said during the protest members of the public were “constantly” coming up to the group and saying they also had mould in their homes.

Julia added:“You can tell people can relate to this, it’s not an individual case. I think the council should at least provide information on how they’re planning to tackle this.

“The council is accountable to the residents. This is not just about individual cases. What are they doing to fix Haringey homes and, in this case specifically, council homes?”

In response to the LRU protest, Cllr Williams, said: “We are committed to ensuring our 20,000 tenants, leaseholders and their families live in safe, well-maintained and comfortable homes where they can thrive.

“Through our far-reaching Housing Improvement Plan, we are taking strong measures backed up with significant investment to improve the way we handle damp and mould, resident engagement and repairs.

“In March, we introduced a new policy to ensure we deliver effective, efficient and timely repairs and maintenance, which is already making a significant difference.

“As well as improving our responsive repairs, we recently announced a landmark investment of almost £600m which will see every council home refurbished, transforming the lives of thousands by driving up the quality and comfort of our entire housing stock.

“We know there is more to do and will continue transforming our landlord services so we can deliver on our ambition of fairer housing for all.”

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