Homesick: A public discussion of housing, mould and abandonment

Homesick: A public discussion of housing, mould and abandonment

Join us at SOAS University of London for a discussion of the intersections of housing policy, disrepair, race and health.

About this event

Two million people in the UK live in homes with black mould, and in 2020 two-year-old Awaab Ishak died from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his home, leading to the passing of "Awaab's Law". In this context, mould as a form of housing disrepair is receiving increasing attention within research, advocacy and policy efforts.

Under-acknowledged within these efforts is the extent to which racialised and migrant communities are disproportionately impacted by inadequate housing in states of disrepair. Mould can be seen as a visible manifestation of the nexus of complex policies related to housing, migration and health, and closely tied to the UK Home Office's intention to create a "hostile environment" that makes it hard for migrants to remain in the UK.

In this in-person event, we bring together researchers and community activists working on this issue to question the ways in which these complex policy environments intersect with experiences of mould, disrepair and racialised state violence.

This event is convened by the Housing, Migration and Health (HoMH) Lab at SOAS University.

This event will be held in Room RB01 in the SOAS main building.

About the speakers

Suad Duale is a psychotherapist and community activist from Birmingham’s Somali community, and a PhD Candidate at Wolverhampton University in Counselling Psychology.

Elizabeth Storer is Lecturer in Geography at Queen Mary University, where she researches the relationship between structural exclusion and ill-health, mainly in Uganda and the UK.

Nikita Simpson is a Lecturer in Anthropology at SOAS, where she researches mental and embodied distress and inequality in India and the UK.