Awaab Ishak: Rochdale landlord boss says lessons learned

The chairman of a housing association at the centre of the death of a toddler from mould says he is confident it will not repeat past mistakes.

Awaab Ishak, aged two, died after being exposed to mould at his Rochdale home in December 2020, an inquest found.

Kevin Brady said Rochdale Boroughwide Housing's (RBH) priority was making its 12,000 properties safe.

Greater Manchester Tenants Union said it would be holding RBH to account "every single step of the way".

RBH was widely criticised following the conclusion of the inquest into Awaab's death.

An investigation by the Housing Ombudsman said the housing association had been "dismissive" and "unsympathetic" with residents.

It was consequently stripped of £1m in funds for new housing by the government, with Housing Secretary Michael Gove saying it had "failed its tenants".

Mr Brady, who was appointed chairman of RBH's board in April, told BBC Radio Manchester it had investigated more than 7,000 of its homes for damp and mould, of which about 850 had serious problems that needed urgent treatment.

He said it aimed to complete checks on all its properties by the end of the year.

RBH's main priorities were making homes safe and rebuilding trust with tenants, Mr Brady said.

He added that RBH had spent £1.2m on ventilation on the freehold estate, where Awaab lived, in the past six months.

He said his priority was "making homes safe for our tenants, and as high a quality as we can possibly make them, and that needs a huge amount of investment".

"We have identified some of that investment but we will need more, and we will be looking to government and other sources to help us."

It comes after the Social Housing Act came into force which introduces Awaab's Law and sets time limits for social landlords to fix hazards such as damp and mould.

Mr Brady said he believed RBH's recovery plan means it was now well placed to meet the new demands of Awaab's Law.

"Our current systems in place for dealing with damp and mould will meet the requirements of Awaab's Law and keep us ahead of the legislation, I'd like to believe."

He said he believed the tragedy of Awaab's death would never be forgotten and mistakes would never be repeated.

"We have built those lessons learned into our recovery plan," he added.

"It will be built into the DNA of the organisation going forward," he said.

An RBH representative said it was "working as quickly as possible to complete in-depth inspections of all our 12,000 homes".

"We recently appointed a further Greater Manchester-based independent contractor to enable us to progress the next phase of this work," they said.

They added that of the five RBH executive team members at the time of Awaab's death, four were "no longer with the organisation".

The Rochdale branch of the Greater Manchester Tenants Union said RBH was "moving in the right direction" but it would be holding it to account "every single step of the way" as it made changes in the wake of the Awaab's death.

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Appalling failures by RBH led to Awaab Ishak's tragic death.

"Following the coroner's verdict on Awaab's death, we removed £1m of funding from RBH that had been agreed under the Affordable Homes Programme.

"Until RBH can demonstrate they are a responsible landlord, they will not be eligible to apply for new funding under the programme.

"To improve the quality of social housing, we have allocated £15m in funding to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority."

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