Housing boss REFUSES to resign from £185,000 job despite huge backlash

A housing association boss has refused to resign from his £185,000 job despite a huge backlash after the tragic death of Awaab Ishak in a mould-infested home.

The two-year-old died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one-bedroom flat where he lived with his parents, Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. 

His mother and father previously made complaints about the black mould in their kitchen and bathroom and asked to be rehoused. The Chief Executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), Gareth Swarbrick, has come under fire and been urged to resign from his role by figures including Michael Gove. 

However, Mr Swarbrick, who was paid £170,000 the year of Awaab’s death, has now confirmed in a statement that he will not be resigning. 

A housing association Chief Executive has said he will not resign after the tragic death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale. Awaab Ishak, two, died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one-bedroom flat where he lived with his parents, Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Pictured: Chief Executive Gareth Swarbrick with Alison Tumilty, Rochdale Boroughwide housing  board chair

His mother and father previously made complaints about the black mould in their kitchen and bathroom and asked to be rehoused. The Chief Executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), Gareth Swarbrick, has come under fire and been urged to resign from his role by figures including Michael Gove. Pictured: Awaab

He said: ‘I want to start by saying how sorry I am to Awaab’s family for their loss – no apology will ever be enough.

‘The conversation around my position has begun to overshadow the most important part of all of this, which is that a family has lost their child. Having spoken to the Board, I can confirm that I will not be resigning.

‘They have given me their full backing and trust to continue to oversee the improvements and changes needed within RBH.’

The chief executive also added that after the tragic death of the two-year-old, the RBH have made a number of changes. This includes mandatory training for all staff on mould and damp.

Alison Tumilty, RBH Board Chair, said: ‘As an organisation, we would again like to extend our deepest sympathies and say sorry to Faisal and Aisha. We let them down.

‘This is a tragedy of the highest order, and we are devastated that it happened in one of our homes. We have made mistakes and we are endeavouring to correct them.

‘Having spoken to the Board, I can confirm that we have full confidence in Gareth’s leadership. He has the trust of the Board. He has extensive knowledge of the sector and the communities of Rochdale.

‘Together, we will work to restore the trust of the people of Rochdale and demonstrate that we are a mutual landlord that cares, and cares deeply about our tenants.

‘We will continue conversations with Michael Gove and the Housing Ombudsman to discuss what happened to Awaab, and the issues we face in social housing across the sector that need to be dealt with to prevent future deaths.

‘In her report, the coroner acknowledged the changes we have made and our commitment to share with others.

‘She makes recommendations across housing and health – at a local and national level.

‘We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and are committed to working with others to bring about change.

‘Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is committed to do better and we will do better.’

Speaking at the two-year-old’s inquest on Tuesday, senior coroner Joanne Kearsley said his death should be a ‘defining moment’ for the housing sector. Pictured: Awaab’s father Faisal, counsel for the family Christian Weaver, solicitor Kelly Darlington and Awaab’s mother Aisha Amin (second right) after the inquest concluded on Tuesday 

Speaking at the two-year-old’s inquest on Tuesday, senior coroner Joanne Kearsley said his death should be a ‘defining moment’ for the housing sector.  

The two-year-old had been taken to Rochdale Urgent Care Centre on 19 December 2020 with shortness of breath and was taken to Royal Oldham Hospital before being discharged.

But at the inquest, the coroner said that the family should have been told to call an ambulance or take him to hospital if he was struggling further with breathing.  

By the next day, he deteriorated and his parents were told to take him back to the Rochdale Urgent Care Centre by the Community Children’s Nursing Team.  

The inquest were told that the two-year-old went into respiratory arrest and then cardiac arrest while he was being transferred to Royal Oldham hospital and died there.

Concluding, the coroner said: ‘Awaab Ishak died as a result of a severe respiratory condition caused due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home environment.

‘Action to treat and prevent the mould was not taken. His respiratory condition led to respiratory arrest.

‘The medical advice given to his parents led to Awaab receiving suboptimal ventilation of his airway which was unable to prevent his cardiac arrest.’

The death of the two-year-old yesterday prompted Housing Secretary Michael Gove to pledge to hold landlords to account, in a statement he made at the House of Commons

The death of the two-year-old yesterday prompted Housing Secretary Michael Gove to pledge to hold landlords to account, in a statement he made at the House of Commons.  

He described the two-year-old’s death as something that makes it ‘painfully clear why we must do everything we can to better protect tenants’. 

It comes after it was revealed that the housing ombudsman is expediting three investigations into the landlord of Awaab.

Housing ombudsman Richard Blakely said he has been alerted to three ‘high or medium risk’ complaints involving the landlord and has instructed his team ‘to expedite these investigations’. 

Awaab Ishak died in December 2020, from a respiratory condition caused by a mould infestation, a coroner ruled

Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley argues the death of a toddler who suffered ‘prolonged exposure’ to mould should be a ‘defining moment’ for the housing sector 

Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley argues the death of a toddler who suffered prolonged exposure to mould should be a ‘defining moment’ for the housing sector

Awaab Ishak tragically died from a respiratory condition in December 2020, just over a week after his second birthday

In a written letter to Mr Swarbrick, Mr Blakely wrote: ‘Following the coroner’s verdict on the inquest involving Awaab Ishak, I asked my team to review open cases relating to the landlord, in particular damp and mould.’ 

Mr Blakely said he has instructed his team to use measures in the Housing Ombudsman Scheme to gather any information needed from RBH, ‘given my specific concerns about the circumstances of these complaints’. 

These include requiring the landlord to allow interviews with staff, provide information from third parties or former staff members and attend meetings with the ombudsman. 

Mr Blakely also told Mr Gareth he would be exercising powers to conduct a further investigation in relation to one specific complaint to establish if it shows wider failings within the landlord. 

‘I would welcome a meeting with you to set out our approach in more detail and respond to any initial questions you or your team may have,’ he wrote.

An RBH spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm receipt of the Housing Ombudsman’s letter and will meet with Mr Blakeway or a member of his team at the earliest opportunity to discuss these three cases.’

Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah has campaigned for clean air following the death of her daughter Ella in 2013, who became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death after a coroner ruled it had ‘made a material contribution’ to her death

Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah, nine, who lived near the South Circular road in south-east London, died in February 2013 after a severe asthma attack caused a fatal cardiac arrest

On Wednesday a campaigner whose daughter died from toxic air called for Mr Swarbrick to resign over Awaab’s tragic death.

Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah died in February 2013 after a severe asthma attack caused a fatal cardiac arrest, becoming the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death after a coroner ruled it had ‘made a material contribution’ to her death.

Her death spurred her mother, Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah to fight for answers and she now campaigns tirelessly for ‘clean air for all’.  

Speaking about the ‘terribly tragic’ case of Awaab, who died from a respiratory condition caused by ‘prolonged’ exposure to black mould, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah blasted the ‘irresponsibility’ of RBH.

She told MailOnline: ‘This can’t happen again. It’s appalling. It’s very sad that the reason why this child is no longer here is because of mould.’ 

On Wednesday Housing Secretary Michael Gove accused the landlord of the Ishak family of a ‘terrible dereliction of duty’, amid plans to ‘name and shame’ bad landlords and impose unlimited fines on offenders. 

The toddler died in December 2020 from a cardiac arrest while living in a decrepit apartment in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, after his parents’ desperate pleas for help fell on deaf ears, a coroner ruled on Tuesday.

His father repeatedly raised the issue with RBH, with the family saying following the inquest ruling that they ‘shouted as loud as they could’. 

Speaking to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Gove said: ‘Awaab’s death does make painfully clear why we must do everything we can to better protect tenants. So, our Social Housing Regulation Bill will bring in a rigorous new regime that holds landlords like these to account for the decency of their homes.

‘At the moment, the system has been too reliant on people fighting their own corner and we are determined to change that. So, the reforms that we’re making will help to relieve the burden on tenants with an emboldened and more powerful regulator.’

He announced plans to ‘name and shame’ landlords who had breached consumer standards.

The inquest into Awaab’s death heard concerns were repeatedly raised to landlord RBH about mould in the flat on the town’s Freehold estate.

Mr Gove said: ‘We hope that we can end the scandal of residents having to live in shoddy, substandard homes, like some of those on the Freehold estate.

‘We want to restore the right of everyone in this country, whatever their race or cultural background, to live somewhere warm, decent, safe and secure. A place that they can be proud to call home.’

Mr Gove said he would ‘act immediately’ on the recommendations of the coroner and had been in touch with senior figures at RBH to ‘demand answers’.

He added: ‘Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s repeated failure to heed Awaab’s family’s pleas to remove the mould in their damp-ridden property was a terrible dereliction of duty.

Awaab Ishak’s father Faisal Abdullah, counsel for the family Christian Weaver, solicitor Kelly Darlington and Awaab’s mother Aisha Amin (second right) outside Rochdale Coroner’s Court following the conclusion of an inquest which found Awaab died from prolonged exposure to mould

The coroner also criticised the medical advice given to the boy’s parents after he developed breathing difficulties, alleging it attributed to his cardiac arrest

Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley, presenting her findings at an inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court, said the boy’s father alerted the Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) of the mould problem in July 2020

Ms Kearsley said the mould was due to ‘normal daily living activities’ and a lack of effective ventilation

His condition was caused by mould in the one-bedroom housing association flat where he lived with parents Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin in Rochdale, Greater Manchester

The housing ombudsman is expediting three investigations into RBH. Pictured, Freehold Estate in Rochdale where Awaab Ishak lived in a one-bedroom flat with his mother and father

RBH and its chief executive Gareth Swarbrick (pictured), who earned £170,000 the same year Awaab died, have come under fire after it emerged that his parents repeatedly complained to the landlord about the mould

‘Worse still, the apparent attempts by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to attribute the existence of mould to the actions of Awaab’s parents was beyond insensitive and deeply unprofessional.’

Mr Gove said he had spoken briefly to chief executive of RBH Mr Swarbrick, and it became clear there were ‘systemic problems in the governance and leadership of that organisation’.

He also said it seemed to him that the family, originally from Sudan, were ‘victims of prejudice’.

He added: ‘They deserved better and their son deserved better.’

He said there would be a ‘targeted multi-year campaign’ to promote the housing ombudsman and ensure those living in social housing know their rights.

Shadow communities secretary Lisa Nandy said the case should mark a ‘real step change’ in improving social housing stock.

She said: ‘It should also be a defining moment for us and a wake-up call that every single person in this House who has – in whatever limited form and to whatever extent – the power and the platform to make sure that this never, ever happens again.

‘It should not take the death of a two-year-old boy in completely avoidable circumstances to get us to get together and act.’  

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday, Mr Blakeway said the case of Awaab Ishak was ‘appalling’ and ‘heart-breaking’ but sadly is something that is happening ‘often’.

He said: ‘Sadly, the kind of failures that we saw here, whilst they may not have as tragic a consequence, they often happen and they often cause deep distress, profound distress to residents.

‘I have seen a dramatic increase in the case work on damp and mould.’ 

Yesterday, a lawyer for the family of Awaab Isha said they were ‘screaming’ and ‘crying out for help’ before the little boy’s death.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, the family’s lawyer Christian Weaver said his parents are ‘distraught’ and vow for this tragedy not to ‘happen to anybody else’.

He said: ‘There’s absolutely no excuse. The reality is, as you say, the family pleaded and NHS staff wrote to RBH saying, ‘look, there’s a young boy living at this property, there’s very bad mould. Something needs to be done’.

‘The overriding thing that the family have been saying is ‘we were powerless, we were screaming, we were crying out for help but just nothing was being done. 

‘As you can imagine, they are distraught. It’s one of those case that are challenging because you think what more could a family have actually done in that situation?

‘We just weren’t listened to.’ 

The little boy’s appalling death days after his second birthday came three years after his parents had complained about the damp in their one-bedroom housing association flat in Rochdale. 

His father, Faisal Abdullah, who came to the UK from Sudan as an asylum seeker in 2015, claims his family felt ‘absolutely trapped’ when the toddler fell ill in their home which was ‘unfit for human habitation’. 

In a statement to the inquest, chief executive of RBH Mr Swarbrick said he was ‘truly devastated’ by Awaab’s death and insisted the organisation would learn lessons from it.  

In her ruling on Tuesday at Rochdale Coroner’s Court, Ms Kearsley found ventilation at the home was ‘not effective’, and criticised Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) for blaming the family- insisting there was ‘no evidence that the ways of living by the family were in any way excessive’. 

A Prevention of Future Deaths report is being written by the coroner who will set out changes that need to be made to stop this tragedy happening to other families, and will be sent to ministers. 

Awaab Ishak’s father, Mr Abdullah, reported mould developing in the property to RBH in 2017 – but was told to ‘paint over it’.

The association was notified of the problem again in 2020.  But ‘no action was taken’ to treat and prevent the mould, leaving Awaab with ‘prolonged’ and ‘chronic’ exposure to the substance.

The family pleaded with doctors and housing bosses for help as little Awaab had trouble breathing. But just two days after being taken to hospital, the toddler’s condition worsened and he died four days before Christmas.   

Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled the two-year-old died after prolonged exposure to mould which caused fatal breathing difficulties. 

A post-mortem examination discovered ‘severe swelling’ of the boy’s airway and throat and tests also found fungus in his blood. 

As she delivered her damning verdict, Ms Kearsley told the inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court: ‘I’m sure I’m not alone in having thought, ‘How does this happen?  How, in the UK in 2020, does a two-year-old child die from exposure to mould in his home?’. 

‘The tragic death of Awaab will and should be a defining moment for the housing sector in terms of increasing knowledge, increasing awareness and a deepening of understanding surrounding the issue of damp and mould.’