Housing executive sacked after boy,2, is killed by mould
Manager dismissed after refusing to resign
The chief executive of a housing organisation was sacked yesterday after a two-year-old boy died from exposure to mould.
Last week, an inquest into the death of Awaab Ishak found he 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 Amin, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Gareth Swarbrick, the £170,000-a-year chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), has lost his position, it was announced yesterday.
A statement read: “Our original instincts were for Gareth to stay on to see the organisation through this difficult period and to make the necessary changes, but we all recognise that this is no longer tenable. The coroner noted that RBH had made changes as a result of the tragic death of Awaab.
“Under new leadership, RBH will continue to embed these changes and to continue to drive further improvements to our homes and to our communications with tenants. We will work with other agencies local and national and with central government in implementing the wider changes recommended to them by the coroner.”
RBH said it will work to appoint an external interim chief executive. The announcement came at the same time as a vigil in Rochdale, during which the Greater Manchester Tenants Union called for MSwarbrick to go.
Awaab’s inquest heard that concerns about the mould in the family’s flat had been raised with RBH a number of times, but no action had been taken.
Amid calls for him to resign, Swarbrick had apologised to the two-year-old’s family on Thursday but said he would not be standing down from his position.
On Wednesday, Housing Secretary Michael Gove had summoned Swarbrick to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Cabinet minister said: “Honestly, it beggars belief that this guy is still in office.”