The Crowne Plaza Hotel Birmingham on Monday evening played host to an auspicious gathering of BME Civic, Faith, Housing and Community Leaders, amassed for an appreciation dinner in honour of the West Midlands Combined Authority Mayor, Andy Street CBE.

Invited by Nehemiah UCHA Honorary President, Bishop W R Powell, OBE & Chairman Mr Jimmy Ogunshakin, the assembled group welcomed Mr Street and congratulated him on his election to Mayor of the West Midlands.

Nehemiah UCHA are a Housing Association with a portfolio of 1100 properties serving the multicultural African Caribbean, Asian, Irish and European communities within the West Midlands, and the night was as much a celebration of their success over the years as well as honouring Andy Street.

"With such an influential group of leaders from across the West Midlands here, thank you very much for bringing everyone together tonight," Mr Street began, "Part of my reason for coming tonight is to learn from what you all do, and to build those relationships."

"There is no point in saying what you're going to do during a campaign, if you're not prepared to actually do it when you're in office as well. I am determined to continue the engagement of all of the communities, because genuinely I believe that being Mayor has to mean being Mayor of the whole of the West Midlands, not just one community."

Mr Street fielded questions from the room adequetly, talking expertly on the topics of Social Change, Housing, and his first 100 days in office, with his usual charismatic charm shining through, immediately putting everyone at ease.

For someone who stepped into the political arena from a business background, and set out a checklist of promises that by his own admission, he would be judged on, he was brutally honest in his admission that those promises haven't all been hit to the standard he would have liked, yet. A true breath of fresh air from a politician.

With regards to the Homelessness Task Force, Andy agreed with a statement from Nehemiah UCHA Chief Executive Llewellyn Graham earlier in the evening, that "actually the government record on this is poor, we have to lobby carefully to win change and drive improvement in that area, and I'm pleased to say that everyone is coming together to do that."

Nehemiah UCHA have responded to the needs of their customers by providing large homes for those with extended families, specially designed homes for people with disabilities or specific religious/cultural needs, and energy efficient homes to minimise the impact of fuel poverty. They are committed to serving the community and aims to build it into a thriving social unit in which people of all ethnic backgrounds feel at home and valued.

With the help and support of those gathered in the room, and the wider communities they represent, Andy Street definitely has a good ear to the ground to discern exactly what is required. Whether he is able to enact change for the betterment of these communities as he has set out to do, only time will tell.