Residents treated in dismissive ways at Awaab Ishak housing association – report

Residents were treated in dismissive, inappropriate or unsympathetic ways and were sometimes subjected to derogatory language, the ombudsman said.

Awaab Ishak (Family Handout/PA) (PA Media)

Refugees were considered “lucky” to have a roof over their heads at a housing association where a young boy died after exposure to mould, a report has found.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) had a culture of “othering” which saw staff hold prejudices and “lazy assumptions” about asylum seekers and refugees, the Housing Ombudsman said.

Its special investigation into the association, which came after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, discovered a “wholly unacceptable” attitude among some staff members and a pattern of “exclusion and marginalisation” based on different identities.