Awaab Ishak death: Rochdale housing chair to quit after damning report

Social landlord waited nearly two years to check other properties after infant died in mouldy home, says regulator

The chair of a social housing landlord is to quit after an investigation found it left hundreds of tenants exposed to harmful damp for nearly two years following the death of an infant from respiratory failure in one of its mould-infested homes.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) waited nearly two years after Awaab Ishak died to check other homes on the estate, the regulator of social housing concluded on Thursday. When it did, it found hundreds of tenants living with damp and mould.

This article was amended on 15 December 2022. Due to incorrect information provided by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, an earlier version stated in the text and headline that all RBH board members were to step down, not just its chair.