Birmingham Hall Green MP, Roger Godsiff, raised in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons, the issue of how individuals in the Housing Department in Birmingham ‘conspired’ to deliberately withhold information about the anti-
Strategic Director for Homes and Neighbourhoods, Elaine Elkington and Roger Godsiff MP
social behaviour of one of their tenants who subsequently became a ‘neighbour from hell’ to many residents in the area.
Mr Godsiff said: “In essence, certain officers in the Housing Department dumped this problem on the Housing Association by omitting to tell them the true

facts –while wrecking lives and causing misery to neighbours. I am calling on the Director of Housing to resign over this alleged cover-up.”
He went on to say: “The officers who approved the transfer deliberately and wilfully conspired to ignore the Council’s own ‘mutual transfer procedures’ and did not tell Moseley & District Housing Association about the previous appalling record of this particular tenant despite the fact that this information was in the public domain. These officers knew that Moseley & District Housing Association would not have allowed the transfer to proceed had they known – and the Housing Association have made this abundantly clear to me.”
A city council spokesman said the authority had already apologised to residents affected.
He said: “An investigation highlighted a number of issues and lessons have been learned, which will help ensure that such matters are dealt with more robustly in future.
"A review will further explore the way in which housing exchanges are managed and, if necessary, procedures will be strengthened.”

This article appeared in the November edition of Roger's newsletter 'Postcard from Parliament'