The builder's path
For: Social housing tenants in England can't easily tell whether their landlord has missed an Awaab's Law deadline on damp and mould.
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in England.
Step 1
Join an incubator or startup mission
They connect you to schemes and officials.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Accelerator for tech nonprofits.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Win a seed grant
Prove the idea works with a small, funded prototype.
Funds bold ideas in global health and humanitarian work.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Funds open source solutions from emerging economies.
Step 3
Pilot with a public body
A district, city or department tries it with real people.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
The landlord-side rules the tool's deadlines must match.
Complaint route and landlord performance information.
Advises tenants on repairs and disrepair and hears these cases daily.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in England, UK. Problem: Social housing tenants in England can't easily tell whether their landlord has missed an Awaab's Law deadline on damp and mould. Who it hurts: Council and housing association tenants living with damp, mould or leaks. The moment it hurts: Two weeks after reporting black mould in a child's bedroom, with no inspection booked. What people do today: Tenants phone and email repeatedly, keep their own photos and dates, and may not know the legal time limits or the written summary they are owed. Why it is still unsolved: The deadlines are new, count in working days, and start from different events, so working them out by hand is hard and landlords hold the records. What solved looks like: A free tool where a tenant logs a report with photos and the date, sees each Awaab's Law deadline counted in working days, gets a reminder when one passes, and can send a dated complaint letter that leads to the Housing Ombudsman. Where: England, UK First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Knowledge itself is power.”
Ipsa scientia potestas est.
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“The things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Speak the truth. Do what is right.”
सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर।
satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.