We’re a community under seige
PARTS of Birmingham are “under siege” as landlords pack rooms for rent with vulnerable residents to exploit a benefits loophole, according to locals.
A group of residents in west Handsworth say they have had enough and are demanding urgent action from the city council, MPs and the Government to clamp down on landlords exploiting rules which mean they can charge triple or more the normal rent value of a room by housing someone in need.
In return, they are meant to provide the ‘care and support’ needed by the tenants – but many get away with doing as little as possible, knowing enforcement is slack.
As a result, exploitative practices abound around what’s called ‘noncommissioned exempt accommodation’, say the authors of a report commissioned by residents themselves, called A Community Under Siege. “Residents have had enough. This once thriving area is being devastated before our eyes and almost no action is being taken to tackle the culprits,” said co-author Barry Toon, a housing activist and adviser.
“Millions of pounds is being claimed by landlords from the public purse, while they exploit vulnerable people and destroy our community.”
He has linked up with local residents Jon Stevens, a University of Birmingham research fellow on housing, Frances Heywood, a housing researcher awarded an OBE for services to housing for disabled people, and resident Denise Forsyth to compile the report, based on research, observations and talking to other residents and agencies.
“We know many of the tenants have problems, and really need support to live in the community safely and be part of the community. But in many cases they are just not getting it, and that’s unfair on everyone,” said Mr Toon.
Tenants are neglected, become easy targets for exploitation by criminals, drug dealers and worse, and the entire neighbourhood suffers.
They highlight how anti-social behaviour, drug dealing, noise, violence and neighbour disputes, along with increased rubbish around properties, are now commonplace as vulnerable residents are left to their own devices.
Mr Toon added: “A growing number of unscrupulous landlords know that if they ignore the rules and regulations they caught.”
They say the issue is linked to a huge rise in the number of HMOs (houses of multiple occupation) that are being created around the area, with little evidence of anyone stopping them. The report cites examples in the neighbourhood around Westminster Road including:
An 11-bed property on a busy
are
unlikely
to
be road junction that has now added three extra ‘homes’ in the back garden, seemingly without permission, filled with desperate migrant families;
A 14-bed converted house, still awaiting planning permission, filled already with vulnerable tenants, some with mental health and drugs issues;
A house listed as three flats but now further divided up into separate rooms, housing up to 14 people with a range of support needs, including people with learning disabilities, and recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.
The report team has challenged Birmingham City Council and MPs to do more, claiming the time for excuses and inaction is over.
The findings will be familiar to residents in other parts of the city facing a similar surge in properties like this, including Erdington, Ladywood, Selly Oak, Sparkhill and Edgbaston.
Amid the pandemic, the problem has got worse and is now at crisis level, said Mr Toon.
Clive Parker, 60, has lived around Westminster Road for 24 years and is worried the area has gone ‘down’.
“I see lots of people, they don’t even say hello. It’s difficult to know who to trust because they come and go so quickly.
“We want to build trust and community. My mum and dad lived here and we used to leave the doors open, everyone did, but to be honest people had sod all then, so you would be robbing nothing.
“Now everything is so hi-tech, and we are surrounded by people who come and go, so you don’t know who you can trust.”
Gavin, passing by with his young son, has lived locally for 16 years and points out flats that he is particularly concerned about, where he is anxious about the level of care provided: “There are a lot of people on drugs and newly arrived people, and people who have had it rough. I don’t want to be the one to judge them because I don’t know what they have been through.
“But what bothers me is how little support they get, how much they are left to their own devices.”
He added there were providers providing good care. “There is a hostel further up supporting the mentally ill and the staff there are really supportive and look after them. I see them out with them a lot, giving the kind of support that needs to be given to the people here.”
The Post stopped to speak to a tenant, who was sitting on a wall outside his home, waiting on the phone to speak to his landlord about a problem with a lock on an entry gate. He broke off the call to say: “Nobody really cares about us. I think we are just treated like a cash cow.”
City MPs, among them Khalid Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood and Jack Dromey, have been pressing for government action on the issue. Mr Dromey is working up a 12-point plan designed to “clean up bad housing and drive out bad landlords.”
Meanwhile, Shabana Mahmood, who represents Ladywood, said a “reckless lack of regulation” was weakening community cohesion. She has urged the Government to give it “urgent attention” before it grows to more dangerous levels.
Millions of pounds is being claimed by landlords from the public purse, while they exploit vulnerable people and destroy our community. Campaigner Barry Toon
Fightback against landlords exploiting benefits loophole and destroying suburbs Political Correspondent