Wales “cannot ignore the growing cost to the health service from failures to address housing conditions” including mould and damp and the current situation “cannot continue”, an Ombudsman investigation has found.

A report by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales said that in 2023/24, the office closed more than 450 complaints about housing associations and councils, over half of which related to concerns about repairs and maintenance issues.

In the first quarter of 2024/25, the Ombudsman has already received 100 disrepair complaints of varying degrees of seriousness.

In one case investigated by the Ombudsman, an elderly man in poor health had been complaining about a poorly fitting front door for some time and had to put blankets over the door and in cracks to stop water entering his property and to keep out draughts.

His request for help was met with claims that it would take six months to replace the door, a timeframe the Ombudsman said was “unacceptable.”

Other investigations unearthed a woman who complained about her social housing landlord over incomplete repairs, including an electrical issue, which meant that her disabled son could not use his bedroom, and a man who suffered with a long term respiratory condition who was left dealing with damp and mould despite complaints from his social worker and local councillor.

Another woman complained that there was damp in her children’s bedrooms and her daughter (who had mobility issues) had fallen over on defective flooring, but delays on repair work meant the issue was unresolved for several months.

Another mother of a son with asthma said she had “constantly contacted a housing association for the last three years”, due to an issue with mould that had not been resolved following a leak in the attic.

The Ombudsman report said: “We have seen evidence of complaint responses seemingly being delayed whilst the body carried out some works in the meantime (perhaps so that the response can reflect well on the body), or the body failing to properly record a complaint.

“The delay in dealing with the complaint response, even though specialist surveys had been completed, which recommended that works be done, is compounded by delays in completing those works.

“This leaves the occupier not knowing what is happening and, in turn, having to complain.”

The Ombudsman report said that “the link between poor housing and health has been well documented.”

In 2019, housing and health was the focus of a report published by Public Health Wales, Community Housing Cymru and the Building Research Establishment.

It concluded that the impact of poor housing costs the NHS in Wales more than £95 million per year and that investment in housing could lead to 39 per cent fewer hospital admissions for circulation and lung conditions associated with poor housing.

Last year, the Welsh Government launched research on damp and mould in houses and said that “determining the scale of the issue in Welsh social housing is challenging.”

“It is clear many landlords are making changes to deal with damp and mould problems in their stock”, the Welsh Government research said, and it is likely a taskforce will be set up.

In response to the Welsh Government exercise, Community Housing Cymru (CHC) – which represents 33 not-for-profit housing associations – said that housing associations are “continuing to review their internal processes and make improvements to proactively identify cases of damp and mould, and expedite responses.”

“In addition, they are developing their processes to improve how they deal with any related complaints that may arise,” CHC said.

“They are looking internally at how staff speak about damp and mould too, and supporting learning about different concerns and sensitives that may arise.

“Some are even taking the progressive step of making damp and mould an organisational-wide responsibility.

“We know that there is still work to be done, but we have not stopped learning and changing.”

The Ombudsman report said that about half of all councils in Wales have transferred their housing stock to housing associations.

In the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2024, housing complaints in general formed 17 per cent of all complaints dealt with by the Ombudsman’s office- the second highest topic following healthcare related complaints (at 36 per cent).

Close to 800 of those were complaints about disrepair.

In her report, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Michelle Morris said: “We used to record all ‘repair’ issues under an umbrella term.

“In order to better capture damp conditions complaints, we have, since 1 April 2024, recorded these separately from other repair matters.

“I have done so, as this is of specific interest to me because of the recognised impact that living in damp conditions has on an individual’s health.

“It has become clear to me that, with our NHS stretched to capacity, other public services - including landlords of social housing – need to consider whether their failures could, in some part at least, be contributing to the problem.

“This is particularly in relation to primary care services, so far as patients with coughs, colds and respiratory problems are concerned and, in many cases, to hospital admissions, too.

“A Public Health Wales report noted the extent of the problem and identified significant improvements that could be made to the health of Wales’ population by improvement in its housing stock.

“I hope that some of the learning from this report will be helpful in reminding landlords of not only their responsibilities, but also of good practice and learning from each other, to improve housing conditions in Wales and, in turn, the health of its population.

“Like the Welsh Government, I am concerned at the apparent lack of proactivity by many landlords to identify and tackle those properties suffering from damp /mould, as opposed to waiting for the occupants to draw attention to the issue.

“This is particularly so when issues are known, either where an occupier has already raised the issue, or where a pre-letting inspection ought to have been properly undertaken, but was not.

“If damp is suspected to be an issue, a landlord should investigate properly and in a timely way, to establish the true extent of the problem and remedy it swiftly.

“It is clear, from the number of complaints received, that the condition of housing in Wales is not without significant challenge in terms of ensuring people live in good quality housing that supports good health and well-being.

“While acknowledging that some of what I say might come at a cost, we cannot ignore the growing cost to the health service from failures to address housing conditions and this situation cannot continue.”

The report recommends that “all public sector and social landlords should proactively undertake a stock survey”; and “undertake a full and proper pre-letting inspection before an occupier moves in.”

The Ombudsman also recommended that public sector and social landlords “properly review first contact service request records to ensure works necessary have not been overlooked”; “properly review work orders to ensure all aspects are fully completed”; “properly prioritise repairs in accordance with their published repairs policies”; “properly record repeated service requests as complaints”; and “engage independent surveyors to inspect properties where complaints of serious disrepair are made and/or where damp is alleged.”