‘More people could die’, claim ex-staff at housing body criticised after Awaab Ishak’s death
Two former employees of the housing association that managed the flat in which mould killed Awaab Ishak have claimed more people could die as they accused it of having a “toxic and bullying culture”.
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) controls more than 12,000 homes in the area.
Two years on from Awaab’s death, Sky News witnessed a number of properties on the Freehold Estate in Rochdale, where the boy and his family lived, with severe mould and damp.
Two ex-employees who resigned over the culture within RBH told Sky News that tenants are suffering because of the poor standard of accommodation.
Gareth Swarbrick, its chief executive, was sacked on Saturday, with the association’s board saying he had been removed with “immediate effect”.
An employee who worked at RBH for six years, Dave (not his real name), told Sky News: “The culture was horrible. It was bullying, toxic for the employees. It’s not fit for purpose at all. It’s meant to be run as a charity for the focus of the tenants [but] nothing could be further from the truth.”
When Awaab’s parents were complaining about the state of their mouldy and damp flat in 2017, Dave was working in the association’s call centre.
“All the staff were advised to tell anyone ringing up to just open up your trickle vents on your window – make sure you ventilate your property and put heating on and they would fob people off,” he said.
“The total disregard for the tenants and cost-cutting was so obvious and it’s really sad to be honest.”
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‘Awaab’s death must not be in vain’
‘Association is racist’
Awaab’s parents, who fled Sudan to seek asylum in the UK, claimed the housing association was racist.
Dave said he agrees with them. “In my view, yes [it is racist],” he said. “It’s sad to say but it is.”
RBH refuted his claim, telling Sky News: “We are not a racist organisation, but we accept that assumptions were wrongly made in Awaab’s case. We are taking swift action to review our current approach and changes we need to make.”
There is only one way to avoid another tragedy, Dave claimed. “I definitely think there’ll be more deaths due to the lack of repairs,” he said.
“I think the only way that tenants will be safe is if RBH is closed down and the council takes it back over.”
Another employee, who resigned this year, quit after she heard about how and why Awaab had died.
Julie (not her real name) claimed the management “covered it up” and did not tell staff what had happened.
She told Sky News: “I knew one day RBH would make headlines because of how bad it was getting. I just hoped it wasn’t through the death of someone, especially a tenant. Even worse, it was a little boy.”
Julie added: “It just wasn’t right what they were doing. They were saying one thing and doing another – and that wasn’t right for me morally.”
On the culture of RBH, Julie commented: “It was toxic and people were getting away with treating employees how they wanted to, especially ones that challenged decisions. They’d be disciplined. In the end it just put a fear factor through the organisation.”
Former chief executive of RBH, Gareth Swarbrick, has been sacked
Awaab died in December 2020. A coroner’s inquest concluded this month that he lost his life because of prolonged exposure to mould and damp in the inadequate accommodation provided by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.
This should be a defining moment for the social housing sector, the coroner said.
RBH told Sky News it was “disappointed that two former employees claimed there is a culture of bullying”, adding: “We are an employee and tenant-owned mutual organisation with a strong set of values at our core. Our culture is one of collaboration and mutuality.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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