A two-year-old is dead and other children are struggling to breathe

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Awaab Ishak had just turned two when he died - his young lungs exposed to the rancid damp and mould of a 'sweatbox' flat.

His family had been complaining to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) over the state of their upstairs flat for years - even before he was born. A pre-inquest review heard how Awaab's death was linked to the conditions he was living in.

The hearing, in June, was told the safeguarding team at Rochdale Council would complete a rapid case review into Awaab's death in the coming weeks, before a decision is made over whether to carry out a serious case review into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

Now, a Manchester Evening News investigation has learned of six other households who describe repeated problems with damp and mould on the same Rochdale estate - including three families who claim that their children have been hospitalised with breathing difficulties, between 2014 and 2020.

Awaab Ishak died in December 2020, but the tragedy has only come to light now. And in spite of the fact that so many others on the estate have complained of the same problems in the years before and after Awaab died, there has been no uproar. The tenants have been suffering in silence, feeling like forgotten people, trapped in homes which they are convinced are threatening their health.

One family showed the M.E.N. a harrowing video of their four-month-old baby unable to breathe, while two others shared letters from their GP encouraging them to move home.

Meanwhile, a legal expert specialising in tenants having issues with damp describes flats like these as 'sweatboxes', because of ventilation issues.

The M.E.N knocked on all 36 doors on the Ilminster block on the Freehold estate where Awaab lived and died, and