Ombudsman finds culture of ‘othering’ residents at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

The Housing Ombudsman has found that a culture of ‘othering’ residents lies at the heart of the issues at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, with a pattern of exclusion and marginalisation based on identities perceived as different.

Awaab Ishak’s death from prolonged exposure to mould and damp and its review of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing complaints brought to the Ombudsman prompted the investigation. 

The report examines the initial lessons identified by the landlord following Awaab’s death, and actions since the inquest, to make more than 20 recommendations for improved practice to support the landlord’s recovery in areas including disrepair, resident engagement and organisational learning.

Whilst reviewing complaints determined in the previous four financial years to the start of 2023, the Ombudsman also made 15 findings in several cases investigated since the inquest and found maladministration for 10 of them – a maladministration rate of 67%, including three findings of severe maladministration. 

This includes a resident reporting concern after her young son developed chest problems which she believes is because of severe damp and mould in her home.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing has proactively engaged with the Ombudsman during the investigation, including meeting with the Ombudsman to discuss the themes identified and actions being undertaken.

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: ‘Our investigation has highlighted that culture change will be central to the landlord’s recovery.

‘The weakness in policies, repeated failures and failure to learn from complaints has led us to conclude there was wider service failure by the landlord in areas other than its response to damp and mould, including record keeping and communication.

‘Our investigation found reoccurring instances of residents being treated in dismissive, inappropriate or unsympathetic ways. In some instances, the language used was derogatory.

‘It is highly unlikely that this endemic behaviour of ‘othering’ is isolated to a single landlord and the social housing sector should consider whether they also need to turn over the stone and do a deep dive into their culture and whether they are living their social purpose.

‘It is encouraging to see that the new leadership at the landlord is determined to lead from the front with the development of their recovery plan.’

The Ombudsman identified seven key themes and set out a series of recommendations.

• The landlord did not go far enough to find where residents were not reporting damp and mould issues, including flawed reviews that did not uncover the damp and mould that was present on various estates
• When responding to complaints, the landlord engaged in tenant blaming, using lifestyle and cultural barriers as key reasons for the issues
• Communications by the landlord about damp and mould are at times scant
• Poor record keeping, including missing repairs records, different systems holding different information, and repairs information logged against the wrong address
• Problems with the landlord’s damp and mould strategy
• Staff did not have sufficient training to explore reports of damp and mould, make the right decisions on how to handle them nor the empowerment to challenge if they felt the response inadequate
• Until the inquest, the landlord did not show a strong ability to learn from its mistakes or take opportunities to improve from them

In its ‘learning statement’ Rochdale Boroughwide Housing said: ‘We have recognised that too often damp and mould was not seen as a serious issue and was attributed to a resident’s lifestyle.

‘At RBH we have taken significant steps since December 2022 to tackle this across our homes. But it is fair to say that this work should have started much sooner and that the scale of the issue in our homes means it will take us time to complete.

‘The report also highlights concerns with the way in which residents were treated. Our residents have the right to be treated with respect and listened to and too often this wasn’t happening. We will put this right and have begun a culture shift programme across the organisation.’

Image: boris misevic