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Awaab Ishak: Rochdale Boroughwide Housing seeks new board chair
The housing association whose property led to the death of Awaab Ishak is recruiting a new board chair.
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) said the successful applicant, who will replace Alison Tumilty, will be someone who wants to “listen, learn, meet and hear from others and work collectively to ensure we remain on track to embed and sustain improvement – and to deliver for our communities and our tenants”.
The decision to replace the chair, as well as other members of the board, was announced after the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) deemed RBH non-compliant in December.
This followed the conclusion of the inquest into Awaab’s death the month before.
Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley found that the two-year-old died as a direct result of prolonged exposure to mould in the RBH property.
She said Awaab’s death should be a “defining moment” for the sector.
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The regulator downgraded RBH from G1 to G3 after it found “significant failings” in the way the landlord deals with damp and mould problems.
It revealed that RBH failed to survey the estate, on which Awaab lived for nearly two years, after his death. When RBH did, almost 80% of the homes were found to have some level of damp and mould.
The regulator also found the association had breached the Home Standard and parts of the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard, which led to “actual and potential serious detriment” to tenants.
In a statement following the decision, RBH said it had “failed Awaab, his family and the community” it serves.
RBH hired a new interim chief executive, Yvonne Arrowsmith, and created a damp and mould taskforce to lead on “significantly accelerated” remedial work.
A £1.2m programme of work is underway to improve ventilation in every home on the Freehold Estate.
The inquest into Awaab’s death heard that during the month before he died, a technical inspector at RBH confirmed there was no effective ventilation in the bathroom as the fan worked but very poorly. The kitchen had no mechanical ventilation at all.
RBH said changes to the membership of the board have also started.
“All new appointees to the board will be approved by our representative body, and the body will also be directly involved in the interview process, ensuring tenant voice is at the heart of these decisions,” the landlord said in a statement.
At the start of this month RBH put out an advertisement seeking a new chair, who the landlord said will “play a vital role as we implement our recovery plan and regain the trust of our tenants, communities and partner organisations”.
The ad stated: “Our new chair is key to ensuring that the pace and impact of our improvement does not waver.
“As such, we seek an exceptional individual with significant experience in the social housing sector, ideally gained at executive or board level, or both.
“You will bring a strong understanding of embedding excellence in governance, with insight into how a board sustains assurance on compliance matters.
“You will have credibility to enable you to maintain effective stakeholder relationships.”
RBH added that the new chair will be a “champion for our ethos that puts inclusion, resident influence and service responsiveness at the heart of all we do”.
