One of the increasingly common problems that people come to see us about in Kingstanding is homelessness and the homeless applications process. Whilst every case is different, one of the worst I'd come across since I became a Councillor was this case, which was compounded by errors made by the Housing Department over a period of almost 7 months. This story was published on the front page of the Great Barr Observer on Friday 30th September. On the following Monday morning, an offer of accommodation was made - the offer was accepted and she moved in last week. Evidently I should try the media approach with all my homeless cases as it seems to yield results, where months of telephone calls, emails and letters on behalf of a constituent have failed and been ignored.

Throughout the entire homeless application process, including moves between B&B and hostel accommodation and the two offers, the Housing Department failed to send any letters - no confirmation of a homeless decision, no letters about offers, and despite repeated requests no explanation as to what was going on after offers had been withdrawn. I'm still waiting for a response to my own questions about what went wrong in this case - the fact that they finally got something right shouldn't change the need for answers and assurances that no-one else will have the same problems.