City council ‘powerless’ over supported housing sector

BIRMINGHAM City Council, which commissions some types of exempt accommodation, says it wants things to improve, but claims it is largely powerless over this sector of supported housing.

“It is more than frustrating – it is a huge concern because some of these exempt accommodation homes are not of a good standard. If someone is not getting the service they need, that is a huge issue for us,” said housing and neighbourhoods lead Councillor Sharon Thompson. “The Government are not getting a grip of this. People living in regular streets are really suffering and we feel powerless – unless they give us powers and we can act ourselves, we are stuck.”

She defended the council’s record on the issue and said she was lobbying Government, regulators and legislators to act urgently.

“Across the city our main aim and need is for family housing, but we know that exempt accommodation and HMOs are a growing market for landlords and those looking for investment opportunities.

“The difficulty we have is that in many areas of this we are powerless.

“Nationally, the Government just has not got a grip on this. They are flaky on the policy and regulations, they have not gone far enough and make contradictory decisions.

“They have not resourced their own agency (Regulator of Social Housing) to regulate exempt accommodation.”

She added: “We do have a lot of good landlords and providers who we have good relationships with and who provide accommodation that is very well supported. But we get some unscrupulous ones and we need to drive them out.”

The council is working on a multi-agency approach and was lobbying the Government to bring in changes and set up a pilot project.