Awaab Ishak: ‘Beggars belief’ housing boss still in job after boy died because of mouldy flat, Gove says

‘Do your job, man,” the housing secretary told local authorities and housing associations

Housing secretary Michael Gove has said it “beggars belief” that a housing chief is still in the job after a toddler died because of a mould-ridden flat.

Mr Gove accused the landlord of two-year-old Awaab Ishak's family of a “terrible dereliction of duty”.

Awaab died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one-bedroom housing association flat where he lived with his parents, Faisal Abdullah and Aisha Aminin, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Making a statement in the Commons, Mr Gove said: “Awaab’s father first articulated his concerns in 2017. Others, including health professionals, also raised the alarm. But the landlord failed to take any kind of meaningful action.

“Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s repeated failure to heed Awaab’s family’s pleas to remove the mould in their damp-ridden property was a terrible dereliction of duty.

“Worse still, the apparent attempts by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to attribute the existence of mould to the actions of Awaab’s parents was beyond insensitive and deeply unprofessional.”

Mr Gove said he has already been in touch with senior figures at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing “to demand answers” and to hear what steps they are now “undertaking immediately to improve the living conditions for the tenants for which they are responsible”.

He said he has been in touch with local MPs to discuss “finding suitable accommodation for tenants in Rochdale who are still enduring unacceptable conditions” and said he hopes to meet with Awaab's family.

Mr Gove also said the two-year-old’s family “deserved better”.

The housing secretary said his department “will act immediately” on the recommendations of the coroner.

The coroner said the home was not fit for human habitation (Greater Manchester Police)

Mr Gove said he had summoned the head of the housing association, Gareth Swarbrick, who earned £170,000 in the year of Awaab's death, to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

RBH’s financial reports show Mr Swarbrick's pay increased to £185,000 the year after Awaab’s death.

Mr Swarbrick said the toddler’s death should be a “wake-up call for everyone in housing, social care and health”.

He said: “We didn’t recognise the level of risk to a little boy’s health from the mould in the family’s home.”

The housing boss added: “We must make sure this can never happen again.”

Awaab died from a cardiac arrest following respiratory complications (Greater Manchester Police)

The cabinet minister also took aim at the local authorities for their failings in the two-year-old’s death.

“We all know that local authorities are facing challenging times when it comes to finance but, frankly, that is no excuse,” said Mr Gove.

“When you have got a situation where you have a young child in a house that is unfit for human habitation, it is a basic responsibility of the local authority – but particularly the housing association – to make sure that people are in decent homes.

“All this what-aboutery, all this ‘Oh, if only we had more government money’ – do your job, man.”

Two-year-old Awaab Ishak (PA)

He told the Commons there would be a “targeted multi-year campaign” around social housing sector tenants’ rights.

He said: “It’s clear from Awaab’s case, which sadly did not go before the [housing] ombudsman, that more needs to be done to ensure that this vital service is better promoted and that it reaches those that really need it.

“We have already run the nationwide ‘make things right’ campaign to ensure that more social residents know how they can make complaints.

“But we are now planning, and I think it is necessary, another targeted multi-year campaign so that everyone living in the social housing sector knows their rights, and knows how to sound the alarm when their landlord is failing to make the grade and knows how to seek redress without delay.”