The avoidable death of a toddler due to poor housing conditions is chilling in itself; the details emerging from the inquest ruling on two-year-old Awaab Ishak are appalling, sickening, but beyond that, demand collective action.
The boy’s father, Faisal Abdullah, first reported the mould problems to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) in 2017. They told him to paint over it. Abdullah raised the problem repeatedly over the subsequent three years, and the family were “crying out for help”, their lawyer said. As Awaab’s health deteriorated, a health visitor wrote twice to RBH, and was similarly disregarded.
