London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned that thousands of kids across the country are being forced to live in damp, mouldy, and infested homes.
His comments come as bleak figures show over 1.8million children were forced to live in shoddy homes in 2019-2020, according to a City Hall analysis.
The number living in 'non-decent' properties was the highest in the North West - 342,000 - while the figure stood at over 260,000 in the capital.
Properties that fail the Government's decent homes definition can include hazardous conditions - such as damp or mould - have poor insulation, or lack modern facilities.
The analysis of the latest available data from the English Housing Survey also includes over 233,000 children in both the West Midlands and Yorkshire and 213,000 in the South East.
Mr Khan said it is "disgraceful that so many children across the country are living in damp, mouldy and infested homes".
Last year a coroner ruled two-year-old Awaab Ishak's died due to black mould in his Rochdale home that was "unfit for human habitation".
At the time Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, vowed to "name and shame" those who fail to meet standards and said "more powerful regulator" will be able to issue "unlimited fines" to failing landlords.
But responding to the figures today, Mr Khan said Awaab's tragic death "shows the real life consequences of unacceptably substandard housing".
He warned: "There could be more tragedies like this just waiting to happen if we don’t see change and I’m calling on the Government to take urgent responsibility."
The London Mayor added: "Following my lead in turning off the tap for underperforming social landlords is a step in the right direction, but we need to see emergency action from Ministers to deliver higher housing standards in the private and social rented sector, with more resources for councils to go after rogue landlords."
A Government spokesperson said: “Awaab Ishak’s death was a tragedy, which shone a light on the appalling conditions that can exist in the social housing sector and we must do all we can to ensure it never happens again.
“We have already taken tough action against failing landlords, such as blocking Rochdale Boroughwide Housing from receiving taxpayers’ money to build new homes until it can prove it is a responsible landlord."
They added: "We’ve also warned others that they will face similar consequences should they fail to meet the standards expected of all social landlords.
“Our Social Housing Regulation Bill will strengthen the powers of the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure tenants are listened to and their concerns dealt with quickly and fairly, with unlimited fines for failing landlords.”
