Staff at a disgraced housing association were sent an email reassuring them they were 'not a racist organisation' days after being called out by Awaab Ishak's family, the Manchester Evening News can reveal. Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has come under fire in a new Housing Ombudsman report which exposes a culture of 'othering' at the housing association.
The damning report highlighted a 'disturbing picture of residents being judged entirely by staff members’ held prejudices, lazy assumptions and an attitude towards asylum seekers and refugees that is wholly unacceptable'. It described testimony from a former worker, who was told by a manager that refugees were 'lucky they have [a] roof over head'.
Awaab's parents had come to the UK as asylum seekers from Sudan, but the report highlights they were not the only tenants who felt 'discriminated against' by RBH. Following Awaab's inquest last November, a statement from his family urged the social landlord to 'stop discriminating, stop being racist, stop providing unfair treatment to people coming from abroad who are refugees or asylum seekers'.
