Lifting lid on housing scandal wins top award

Birmingham Mail/Birmingham Live was a winner at the Regional Press Club awards, held at London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. It won the Campaign of the Year accolade for its crusade, headed by Politics and People Editor Jane Haynes, to “Boot Rogue Landlords out of Birmingham” and also took the “Reporting Communities Award” for “Hands not Hate” – as well as being Highly Commended in the same category.

When Jane (pictured) visited residents to talk to them about concerns over drugs and violence it appeared a fairly routine community story – but it unearthed a scandal. What she found was a staggering supported housing crisis that had blown up in Birmingham Jane discovered that multiple companies had descended on the city to get a share of a cash-rich housing benefits opportunity afforded by lax regulations and very little enforcement. Family homes were converted into 'supported' rooms for vulnerable and challenging people from all over the country in a business worth over £200 million a year in Birmingham alone. She used FOIs, data searches in payment records, regulator reports, Companies House and the Land Registry to gather some information but mostly she hit the streets and talked to people affected.

As a result of her stories, traumatised individuals have been moved into better care, bullying tenants have been evicted and houses closed down.

Birmingham MP Shabana Mahmood said: “I’ve no doubt that it’s thanks to Jane’s reporting that we have blown the scandal of exempt accommodation wide open. Through her tireless work over three years Jane has lifted the lid on the sector and proven that local journalism is delivering for our communities.”

Community reporter Nathan Clarke (pictured) launched Birmingham Live’s “Hands not Hate” initiative, which saw the website stand alongside members of the city's LGBT community amid a rising tide of violence. There were four high-profile attacks in quick succession - the last of which was a man assaulted for holding hands with his partner - hence the name #HandsNotHate.

Nathan amplified the issue with a series of hard-hitting case studies, including gay men who became trapped in their homes for fear of violence, men afraid to tell their families who they really were and investigating the long term impact of hate crimes by those who had fallen victim.

Birmingham Live was highly commended in the “Reporting Communities” award for Brummie Muslims, a newsletter launched in 2022 at the beginning of Ramadan as part of a renewed focus on engaging with the city’s Muslim communities on a deeper and more consistent level. The initiative was led by trainee reporter Anisah Vasta and Jane Haynes.

Mark Williamson from the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, was highly commended in the Photographer of the Year Award, while Oliver Pridmore from Nottinghamshire Live was named winner of the Cathryn Nicoll Award.

The Regional Press Awards, which encourage entries from the entire spectrum of regional news brands, are organised by the Society of Editors.