'We just said, oh it's lifestyle, open your window... nobody thinks that anymore'
The boss tasked with turning Rochdale Boroughwide Housing around says Awaab Ishak's legacy is the end of 'lifestyle' being blamed for damp and mould. Yvonne Arrowsmith was brought into RBH as interim chief executive last December with the housing association dealing with the aftermath of Awaab's inquest.
The idea that damp and mould was the fault of tenants is one that the Housing Ombudsman had already been urging social landlords to abandon. But it sat at the heart of Awaab's story. Ms Arrowsmith says progress has been made in changing the culture at RBH since she took the helm, but there is 'still a way to go'. A worker who is leading on equality and diversity has been meeting with faith communities, while all RBH staff will have to take on a customer excellence training programme over the next year, with 20% of workers having completed it so far.
"We were pushed, as a sector, to build new homes over the last two decades," said Ms Arrowsmith. "That was right on one hand because we need more homes, and we definitely need more homes in Rochdale. "We have got high levels of damp and mould," said Ms Arrowsmith. "Part of it is we've got some very old properties - 3,000 of our properties are almost 100 years old - and it's a damp climate, so there's always going to be that risk."
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