The housing body responsible for a mouldy flat which led to the death of two-year-old, Awaab Ishak, received over 100 complaints about dampness or mould last year.
Rochdale Borough Housing (RBH) were hit with 106 reports from tenants complaining of these issues in the 12 months after little Awaab died in December 2020.
A damning inquest into the tot’s death last week ruled that he had died as a direct cause of being exposed to his mouldy home on the Freehold Estate for a prolonged period of time.
RBH CEO Gareth Swarbrick was sacked just four days after the coroner’s ruling.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the housing body admitted they “made assumptions about [the] lifestyle” of Awaab’s family and “got that wrong” after they were slammed for “apparent attempts” to blame them for the mould.
Awaab’s parents Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Amin said desperate calls for help from the provider were repeatedly ignored and started before their son was even born.
Sickening images from inside their former home show black mould eating away at the ceilings, skirting boards and floors.
Awaab died just days after his second birthday, having suffered a cardiac arrest due to respiratory failure, caused by mould affecting his airway.
Following his inquest, Awaab’s parents said they had no doubt that “we were treated this way because we are not from the country and less aware of how the systems in the UK work”.
The court heard RBH inspected the family’s flat in July and November 2020 and reported they had seen a “bucket” in the family’s bathroom.
The inspectors also claimed they saw wetness on the bathroom floor and a saturated bath panel - and assumed the family were using the bucket to carry out ‘ritual bathing’.
Awaab’s father contested this, telling the court his family took showers and such ritual bathing was not in his family’s culture.
In a statement released on Tuesday, RBH said: “We did make assumptions about lifestyle and we accept that we got that wrong.
"We will be implementing further training across the whole organisation.
"We abhor racism in any shape or form and we know that we have a responsibility to all our communities.
"Now former employees of the housing body have admitted they resigned because of the “toxic culture” which was “all about cost cutting”.
One anonymous whistleblower told Sky News: “RBH has been putting profit before people for a long time.
"They try to cut corners and make them more cash-rich. I’ve been in meetings where it has all been about cost-cutting and how much can we save?
“That has a knock-on effect on the tenants because they’re not going to get that level of service they need. It’s a death by a thousand cuts.”
She also told the programme she fears more people could die if the dire living conditions are not resolved. More than 85,000 people have signed a petition calling for new legislation known as “Awaab’s Law” to ensure no other child dies from mould in their home.
Awaab’s parents came to the UK seeking asylum from Sudan, with Faisal Adbullah arriving first in 2015. He was joined three years later by Aisha Amin.
