Derry man 'far from reassured' about Housing Executive complaint procedure

A Derry man is “far from reassured” the Housing Executive’s complaint procedure had been updated, following his recent successful complaint to the Ombudsman.

Frankie McMenamin said, in discussion with the Ombudsman regarding his complaint, the Housing Executive proposed “to give a commitment to review the complaint process to prompt staff to contact third party witnesses as part of any investigation”.

He said: “The Housing Executive also agreed to issue a written apology to me, from senior management for its unclear communication and poor complaints handling in relation to my housing application.

“However, the letter of apology I received from the Housing Executive’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 seemed to me, NIHE was rowing back on its commitment to contact third parties when it was investigating a complaint.”
Mr McMenamin subsequently wrote to the Housing Executive’s chief executive, Ms Grainia Long, raising his concerns.

Speaking to Derry Now, Mr McMenamin said the Housing Executive’s statement did not offer him any reassurance because, “I had a third party accompanying me to meetings with the Housing Executive, namely Dr Maurice Mahon”.

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“The Housing Executive did not contact Dr Mahon to corroborate my complaint,” added Mr McMenamin.

“I feel the Housing Executive comment leaves too much discretion to its staff, who may be the subject of a complaint. What reassurance will any member of the public have with the Housing Executive’s ‘updated’ complaints policy' where the direction is ‘that staff consider contacting third parties’ and ‘if possible’ and ‘where this would be useful’?

“What mechanism will be put in place to challenge Housing Executive staff if they do not ‘consider’ contacting third parties, if they determine it is not possible and that they decide it would not be useful?

“How will Housing Executive decision-making be conveyed to the complainant so that it can be challenged? If the Housing Executive does not consider involving a third party, for whatever reason, is to be meaningfully challenged by the complainant, to whom or which department in the Housing Executive is the challenge to be forwarded?

“It can’t be forwarded to the Housing Executive staff about whom the complaint has been made.”

Mr McMenamin alleged he was denied due process by the Housing Executive staff handling his “genuine complaint”.

“If Housing Executive staff had treated my complaint with compassion and respect, it would not have needed to have been escalated and I would not have had to suffer as grievously as I did for the long duration over which I fought for my rights to be respected.”

Mr McMenamin said he hoped the Housing Executive update of its complaint procedure resulted in the public being empowered.

“Unfortunately, there is so much scope for individual subjective discretion in the changes,” said Mr McMenamin, “so I felt I had no alternative but to write to Ms Long and request the Housing Executive builds in definite protocols to ensure members of the public are treated with courteousness and respect, which will result in a more harmonious relationship between the Housing Executive staff and members of the public and also offer the potential for a transparent and honest decision-making process.”

In a statement to Derry Now, Housing Executive Director of Housing, Jennifer Hawthorne, said: “We have accepted the recommendations of the Ombudsman in this case and we have apologised to our customer for any distress caused.

“We have made a commitment to learn from this situation and are providing an update to staff on how to effectively deal with customer complaints.”