Housing Executive apology to Derry's Frankie McMenamin

A Derry man has had his complaint against the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) upheld by the Public Services Ombudsman.

Speaking to Derry Now, Frankie McMenamin said he felt he had been left with “no option” but to make a complaint to the Ombudsman following his treatment by NIHE.

He said: “Having exhausted the NIHE complaints procedure and been unhappy with the outcome, I felt I had no option but to go to the Ombudsman. I have now been vindicated. However, I am very, very disappointed the matter took almost three years to reach resolution.”

In discussion with the Ombudsman, NIHE proposed “to issue a written apology to Mr McMenamin from NIHE’s senior management for the unclear communication and poor complaints handling by NIHE in relation to Mr McMenamin’s housing application”.

NIHE also proposed “to give a commitment to review the complaint process to prompt staff to contact third party witnesses as part of any investigation”.

Mr McMenamin said: “Although the apology was supposed to be issued to me within one month, it took nearly nine weeks before NIHE sent me a letter of apology.

“I also have a concern that, even though the Ombudsman upheld my complaint, NIHE has changed the wording of the apology which it agreed with the Ombudsman.

“The letter of apology I received from NIHE’s chief executive on August 31 stated: ‘I would also like to reassure you that our complaints procedure has been updated to ensure that staff consider contacting third parties if possible, where this would be useful to corroborate and fully investigate issues raised in a complaint’.

“It seems to me, NIHE is rowing back on its commitment to contact third parties when it is investigating a complaint.”
Mr McMenamin was supported in his case by the Belfast-based Housing Rights organisation.

Established in 1964, Housing Rights is the “leading provider of independent specialist housing advice” in the North.

In its evidence to the Ombudsman, Housing Rights said: “Mr McMenamin resided in a NIHE tenancy for almost two decades, without major incident. He was forced to seek an exchange [to another address] in 2015 due to severe anti-social behaviour, which he advises was perpetrated by an introductory NIHE tenant.

“He states, he was in fear for his life.

“He reported this to NIHE but contends he was led to believe that there was little NIHE could do to resolve issues and he was cautioned that, even if anti-social behaviour could be evidenced on the part of the new tenant, it could take up to two years to go through the process of having [the person] removed from the tenancy.”

Mr McMenamin said: “I should never have had to leave my home. NIHE failed to adhere to their own policies in dealing with anti-social behaviour.

“At that time, I was also dealing with bereavement, my father had died and my mother was seriously unwell. I was vulnerable and I felt I had no choice but to move.

“Unfortunately, there were ongoing noise issues with a neighbour at my new address, around September 2017. I was deeply distressed by persistent noise from my downstairs neighbour. I felt my housing officer did not take the impact this was having on my mental health seriously.

“I subsequently made an application for a transfer in February 2018, given my deteriorating mental health at that time.

“I felt I had no option but to seek another move to a more suitable property.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I feel NIHE could have handled the situation more sensitively.”

Mr McMenamin said he was left with the feeling his dealings with NIHE were not “open and accountable”.

“I do not believe my interactions with NIHE were customer focused. Rather than working together to resolve my housing issues, which were not of my making, my relationship with NIHE became extremely adversarial.

“I feel I was very let down by the NIHE and the elected politicians who were involved in my case. I would like to say that lessons have been learned from the mistakes in the handling of my case, but I don’t believe this is so. In addition, the effects on my mental health were never properly addressed.”

Mr McMenamin added that he would like to extend thanks to: Paul Fleming (NIACRO), Denise Callaghan (Housing Rights), Dr Maurice Mahon, Eamonn McCann and Charlie O'Neill. 

Housing Executive Director of Housing, Jennifer Hawthorne, told Derry News: “In this instance, Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) accepted a case for investigation against the Housing Executive on behalf of this tenant. 

“On discussion of the case, we proposed a settlement which involved an apology and improvements to our complaint guidance to reflect lessons learned from the case.

“NIPSO accepted this settlement proposal and discontinued investigation of the case.

“We are sorry for any distress caused to our tenant.”