Hundreds of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) homes still have damp and mould issues - and the person tasked with turning things around admits that number will grow before it falls. Awaab Ishak died two years ago, eight days on from his second birthday, following prolonged exposure to mould at his home on the Freehold estate.
The mould, which RBH knew about for several months without carrying out repairs, led to the breathing difficulties that caused the toddler to suffer a fatal cardiac arrest. His inquest came months after the Manchester Evening News revealed Awaab's family were not the only ones dealing with mould on the estate, with other children taken to hospital with breathing issues.
"It was shocking," said Yvonne Arrowsmith, who became RBH's interim chief executive on Monday, December 12. "I sat on the outside, like everyone else, I saw it in the media.
READ MORE: Awaab's Law: Change is already happening - but there is so much more to do
"It was just tragic and no one can imagine what that feels like as a parent to lose a child. And you shouldn't need something like that as a defining moment for a sector, but I think it has been a catalyst for change."
The fall-out from Awaab's inquest in November has been drawn-out and messy. Having dodged questions from the press for three days after the inquest came to an end, chief executive Gareth Swarbrick was given the full backing of RBH's board, only to be sacked by the same board two days later.
Housing secretary Michael Gove stripped RBH of £1 million in funding for new homes, while the Housing Ombudsman announced it was launching a fresh investigation into the landlord and Rochdale Council called for its properties to be returned to the local authority. Most recently, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) downgraded RBH after failing to deal with damp and mould affecting hundreds of tenants, and the housing association's entire board announced it would be resigning in the new year.
Ms Arrowsmith's to-do list at RBH is a mighty one - and she expects to be in post at RBH for 'as long as it takes'. "I'm not a caretaker," she told the M.E.N.
"I'm not here just to sit behind a desk until somebody comes in because I don't think we've got the luxury of time. I always have been one where you get in, you look at what needs doing and you get on with it, so that when we get a permanent CEO they can come in - the plan is there, it's already going."
Damp and mould 'a concern for a long time'
Ms Arrowsmith, a former nurse who has worked in social housing for the past three decades, has a track record of going into struggling housing associations and putting them in a better place for the next permanent boss to take over. She knows the size of the task ahead in Rochdale is immense.
Her top priority is making sure all RBH's homes are 'safe and secure', with damp and mould repairs a major part of that. In its decision to downgrade RBH to 'G3' - which means a social landlord is not compliant with governance requirements - the RSJ slammed RBH for waiting until August 2022 to inspect the flats on Freehold, following the M.E.N .'s investigation being published, more than 18 months on from Awaab's death.
When workers did visit the flats, a staggering 80% were affected by damp and mould. "Nobody should live in a property that's not fit for them to be living in," Ms Arrowsmith said.
"That's got to be the priority. Everything else will happen, but you have to prioritise." RBH has set up a 'damp and mould taskforce' designed to ramp up its response to damp and mould issues.
As of December 20, the team were aware of damp and mould problems at 628 properties, with first inspections carried out at 557 of them. Ms Arrowsmith added: "That number is going to keep going up, and up, and up - and that's what we expect to happen, and there will be a point where it will start to come down."
Work will be continuing throughout Christmas to get through that growing list, though Ms Arrowsmith says RBH workers will also need to deal with other issues that arise in the winter, while there could be a shortage of contractors available as other housing associations also step up their efforts in the aftermath of Awaab's inquest. Meanwhile, 380 properties on Freehold need improved ventilation, with a £1.2 million project underway.
"Damp and mould has been a concern in social housing for as long as I've worked in it," said Ms Arrowsmith. "I think it's probably safe to say that this is the first time everyone has really focused on it, once and for all, let's see what we can do."
The timing of the work also coincides with a cost of living crisis. Ms Arrowsmith admits it's a 'really difficult time', with residents trying to keep warm this winter, while there is a new focus on making sure homes are properly ventilated.
She said: "Some of our properties, not just RBH, were built a long time ago. They were built for different generations, for different climate even.
"Will we ever be able to resolve damp and mould? I don't know, but we've got to get better at it and we have to think about what we can do to help. I know people have gone in to see some residents and they don't want vents because it's going to make them cold, so we have to start looking if there's another way we can ventilate that's not going to draw cold air in.
"Some of the things we were saying before around if you open your window when you have a shower - well I don't, because it would be too cold. We've really got to think more common sense around how we're going to provide support and advice to people."
Throughout Awaab's inquest, the culture of blaming tenants for issues of damp and mould was laid bare. It was condemned by the Housing Ombudsman, who insisted landlords should be more proactive, and by the midway point of the inquest RBH admitted its actions had been 'inappropriate'.
Coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that the moisture in Awaab's home simply been caused by 'normal activities of daily living', which the flat was 'not equipped for', with 'inadequate ventilation'. RBH now needs to change its mentality and culture - but it's far from the only housing association in that position.
"The findings of the inquest have made everyone stop and say actually this is a real health concern and we can't be just saying it's because of the way people are living," said Ms Arrowsmith. There are factors that make it worse, but people don't choose those factors.
"We've got lots of overcrowding. We haven't got anywhere to move people to - people's families are growing. We live in quite a wet climate.
"There are things that are not to do with the fabric of the building, so for housing professionals, staff to start changing not just the vocabulary we use but also our thinking. Cultural shift does take a while, but that message is out there very loud and clear."
She added: "You can go in there, you think that's [lifestyle] what has caused it, but then you're not really looking at underlying issues and condition of the building. So I think it's a challenge and I think it's a good challenge."
'The way for us to learn'
Ms Arrowsmith's second key priority is making sure residents' voices are heard - encouraging tenants to report issues, holding drop-in sessions on RBH estates and encouraging the return of resident groups. She said: "I am so keen on hearing residents' voice, I think that's the way for us to learn.
"If people haven't got somewhere where they can access and talk to you about things, then they are going to feel the way they are feeling at the moment. I think we've got a lot of work to do in regaining trust and confidence in us as an organisation and until people start seeing that, they won't start feeling that."
In a message to tenants, Ms Arrowsmith added: "I'm listening, I'm here. I will be out and about, feel free to come up and talk to me. I have had people already contact me, I will always respond to our residents."
It isn't just tenants who RBH needs to rebuild trust with, but members of Rochdale Council too. Relationships have been increasingly fraught between both parties amid the ongoing plans for Seven Sisters to be demolished as part of regeneration, with a new masterplan for the scheme due next year.
The death of Awaab appeared to serve as a final straw for the council, which wrote to Mr Gove about the prospect of stripping RBH of its homes, but Ms Arrowsmith is hoping for a fresh start with elected members. A potential stumbling block for the housing association's regeneration plans could be the government's decision not to provide an expected £1 million in funding for new homes, withholding further funding until it is satisfied RBH can look after its current properties.
It's too soon to know the full impact of the decision and how much it will have an impact on RBH's plans for building, Ms Arrowsmith says. "I understand why [Mr Gove] did it and I understand what he was saying, in that you've got to sort out your existing properties before you start thinking about building new things," she said.
"But I think there's a balance that has got to be made because there's a huge housing crisis. We have been very focused on building, building, building because that's what we've been told to do for many years - and that's right.
"There is a housing crisis and to solve some of the problems that we've got in existing stock, which is around overcrowding, we have to have stock to move people into." Ms Arrowsmith said the decision will 'eventually' impact on RBH's house building programme, and at some point it could talk to other housing providers in order to develop its schemes.
As of December 20, almost 160,000 people had signed the M.E.N' s petition for Awaab's Law, a campaign which has received the backing of the toddler's family. It would set time limits on inspections for damp and mould in social housing, establish high priority when health hazards are identified, and make sure tenants are given clear information on their rights in the language they are most proficient in.
Ms Arrowsmith has already signed the petition. "Awaab's Law should come in and I think we should all be supporting it," she said. "Nothing good can ever come out of a young boy dying, but if it has made change happen, then that helps to think it's not going to happen again."
"The other issue for us as landlords is when we can't get in, what are we going to do?" added Ms Arrowsmith. "If there's a gas safety issue there is statute, we know we can get access to get gas servicing done. With health issues, we don't know - can we get in? How can we get in?
"If we get something that is a law, that is statute, that says you have an absolute responsibility - then where we are having difficulty getting into properties, it gives us that power to do that."
Ms Arrowsmith appears determined to make lasting change at RBH - an organisation which is badly in need of reform. Time will tell if the landlord can turn itself around, but the new interim chief believes it's possible.
She added: "It's a challenge, it's a long road. It's not a quick fix. But I came in on Monday (December 12), I've been really pleased with how ready the staff are - it's been difficult for everybody - and they really want to get this right. They want to change.
"I don't think it's an undoable task. It's a long road, but I think we've made really good steps to start that. There's already work underway, it feels like there is momentum now."
READ MORE FROM THE FREEHOLD ESTATE:
-
'How does this happen?': Coroner rules Awaab Ishak, 2, died after mould wasn't treated at his home
-
All the ways tragic two-year-old toddler Awaab Ishak was failed before his death
-
After little Awaab's death the government is now promising change. It can't come soon enough
-
The nasty stench of racism pervades the tragedy of little Awaab Ishak
