Rochdale’s largest housing association has been accused of doing 'nothing’ for LGBTQ+ tenants in its new ‘three-year vision’. Ian Wharton has resigned from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s (RBH) ‘representative body’, after claiming it is failing to protect members of his community or promote equality and diversity.
The 49-year-old, from Waithlands Road, in Newbold, says the mutual is ‘unwilling’ to help those who are subject to homophobic abused and anti-social behaviour. RBH insists it is has ‘a zero-tolerance’ approach to homophobic anti-social behaviour and is proud to be an LGBTQ+ ally.
Its representative body is mainly made up of tenants and employees, whose responsibilities include approving the corporate strategy - the 'three-year vision' - and appointing non-executive directors.
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But Mr Wharton logged off in protests when it met online last month to discuss and approve the new corporate strategy. “I could not sit through that meeting and agree with anything that was being said,” he said.
“Being from the LGBT community, nothing has been said in any vision that was moving forward that they are doing anything for residents that are in their community.”
In a scathing resignation letter to RBH bosses, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service , he writes: “You have not done anything positive for the tenants in the LGBTQ+ community, with myself being one. You look after the elderly and now in the vision for the next three years, you have mentioned about communicating with your younger tenants.”
Mr Wharton, an RBH tenant of 11 years, added: “You promise that you are a company that promotes equality and diversity, when in truth your unwillingness to do anything to help your tenant that are from the LGBTQ+ [community], to live without fear, without being subject to homophobic behaviour, that when these matters are brought to RBH, nothing is done because, the RBH tenants who are committing these crimes, hide behind their religious beliefs and things get brushed over.”
Speaking to the LDRS, the 49-year-old said RBH appeared to be more concerned with elderly and young tenants than its LGBTQ+ community. “We are not getting the support from them, basically we don’t count,” he said.
“We have got nowhere to go and feel safe in Rochdale. I went through four or five years of living hell, not feeling safe because I had homophobic hate speech from neighbours, and when I mentioned it to RBH they said to ring the police. There has to be something RBH can do to make us feel safe in our own homes without passing the buck and saying to ring the police because they can’t do anything.”
A spokesperson for RBH said the mutual was ‘saddened’ Mr Wharton had chosen to resign from its representative body. “He has much to contribute, and he remains very welcome to get involved with RBH activities,” they said.
But they stressed that equity was a value ‘at the heart of everything we do, as an employer and a service provider’. “We're proud that LGBTQ+ tenants and employees are part of our RBH family,” they continued. “We are proud to be an ally.”
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to homophobic anti-social behaviour. It is hate crime. We work closely with the council and Greater Manchester Police to respond to any reports of anti-social behaviour. Residents can and should report homophobic anti-social behaviour to our team or to the local police.”
RBH says it has not received any complaints from Mr Wharton about homophobic anti-social behaviour, but we will be in touch with him to discuss the issue. “Any complaints we receive will be treated with the utmost seriousness,” a spokesperson added. “ Homophobic anti-social behaviour is a hate crime.”
They continued: “Our corporate strategy is the result of nine months of open discussion with our tenants and our employees. As a mutual society, our final priorities are approved by our elected tenant and employee representatives.
“As one of our values, equity is at the heart of this document - including our proud allyship with our LGBTQ+ tenants and employees. We know that being an elected representative for our mutual society is a substantial commitment, and all new representatives receive a full induction to make sure that they have the support they need to carry out their role on behalf of our tenant and employee members.”
