A woman from Newtown, Birmingham was handed a community order for 12 months at Birmingham Magistrates Court today (4 May 2017) after lying to try and get a council house.
Mrs Noleen Odhiambo (aka Miss Noleen Onyilimba), aged 53, of Geach Street, Newtown, Birmingham was found guilty of two fraud offences on 24 April 2017. Odhiambo falsely completed a homeless application form in September 2015 by not declaring the full circumstances of her eviction from a housing association property in Rickman Drive, Highgate. She also failed to declare that she owned another property.
The information came to light when the housing association which had evicted Odhiambo – Family Optima – contacted Birmingham City Council. Officers at the council then referred the case to the Application Fraud Team who investigated. Odhiambo was not granted a council tenancy but was placed in temporary accommodation before the fraud offences were uncovered.
Birmingham City Council’s director of housing, Robert James, said: “At a time when we have thousands of genuinely homeless families in Birmingham in dire need of a council house and temporary accommodation, Odhiambo decided to try and exploit the system for her own financial gain. Today’s sentencing sends out a clear message – we take tenancy fraud allegations seriously and we will prosecute.”
