RBH hires Yvonne Arrowsmith as interim chief executive

News06 Dec 2022Michael Lloyd

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has appointed former East Thames and Saffron Housing chief executive Yvonne Arrowsmith as its interim head.

Yvonne Arrowsmith will join Rochdale Boroughwide Housing on 12 December

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RBH has appointed former East Thames and Saffron Housing chief executive Yvonne Arrowsmith as interim head #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

The Lancashire-based association has been under fire since a coroner concluded in November that two-year-old Awaab Ishak died as a result of a severe respiratory condition caused by “prolonged exposure” to mould in his RBH flat.

The coroner’s report showed that the mould in the flat was reported to RBH, but the housing association’s lack of action meant the toddler continued to be exposed it.

Since then, RBH has apologised and said that it has, and will continue to, learn lessons. The board of the housing association removed chief executive Gareth Swarbrick after he resisted calls to step down.

Now the board has apologised again and has appointed Ms Arrowsmith as interim chief executive to “lead our organisation and to make sure that we put in place the changes we need to make”.

Ms Arrowsmith has worked in the social housing sector for the past 30 years.

She spent nine years at Family Mosaic, which merged with Peabody in 2018, as group director of supported housing and then group operations director.

She has also served as chief executive of East Thames, which merged with L&Q Group in 2017, and interim chief executive of East Angelia-based Saffron Housing Trust.

Ms Arrowsmith is currently a non-executive director at One Housing Group.

A statement from the chair of the board and the chair of the representative body said: “We want to start by saying again how sorry we are for the loss of Awaab. We know our words will not take away the pain felt by his family, nor will they heal the hurt being felt here in Rochdale as well as across the country.

“Yvonne has a track record of joining organisations as an interim chief executive and helping them to improve and succeed. We are really pleased to be able to bring in someone with her experience and skills to lead RBH.

“Yvonne starts with us on Monday, 12 December, and we are looking forward to working with her to make sure that we deliver the quality of homes and services that our tenants deserve and expect.”

Ms Arrowsmith said: “This is a difficult time to be joining RBH, following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak. His death and the coroner’s verdict into it have rightly shocked the social housing sector. I strongly believe that everyone has the right to live in a home that is safe and secure.

“So, although a difficult time, I am looking forward to working with the board, representative body and employees to prioritise the safety and security of people living in our homes, to make sure that action is taken where it is needed, and to begin the process of earning the trust and confidence of our residents.”

Housing secretary Michael Gove previously announced that RBH will not receive an expected £1m of Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) funding, or receive any new AHP contracts, until the Regulator of Social Housing has concluded an investigation into the housing association.

He said he would block funding from the government’s current AHP for social landlords that breach the regulator’s consumer standards, and has urged social landlords to “absorb the lessons” from Awaab’s death.

The regulator has written to providers to order them to show they have the systems in place to identify and deal with damp and mould in their homes.