‘I got it into my head I was going to die there’
The M.E.N. put the conditions at both Gransmoor Avenue and Warren Guesthouse to Mr Ali, but he refused to comment.
Down the road in Ardwick, Val’s Hotel has been notorious among homeless charities and council officers for years.
Its labyrinth of 60-plus rooms have seen more than 50 ambulance callouts in the 18 months to last summer, according to an M.E.N. Freedom of Information request, including to eight overdoses, 10 people fitting, three assaults, someone with ‘traumatic injuries’ and a resident with lacerations. In the last few weeks of last year, there was at least one death, according to the police, although charities believe there were in fact three.
Haydn Smith, 55, who lived in the hotel around eight years ago, recalls a series of deaths while he was there.
“I had to get out,” says Haydn, who eventually sought out support for his heroin addiction and left.
Today, he volunteers for the city centre homeless charity Mustard Tree.
“People were dying in there. I lived there about three years and at least three people died there during that time. One died of an overdose. One guy died in the bath and one guy died of alcohol poisoning. I got it in my head that I was going to die in there too. The only reason I didn’t take my own life was because my mum was still alive.”
Haydn had been an addict for years before ending up in Val’s after leaving prison.
He was pointed towards the hotel by a homelessness organisation in the city centre and on arrival says he was immediately given some forms that saw his housing benefit paid direct to the landlord.
“My giro went straight to him,” he says. “I think he was getting about £110 a week.
“You’d have two beds in a room no bigger than a cell. It was infested with mice.
“There was a resident drug dealer who would just go out and buy all the bags and bring it back, so for me it was easy. I was depressed, I was on drugs and I didn’t have to do anything.
“In a way, it’s ok for people in that state of mind - a roof is a roof. But to get out of that state of mind is a different story.
“Anyone in that environment is not going to get better.”
Jonathan Billings, whose Stockport charity the Wellspring helps burgeoning numbers of homeless people over the border from Manchester, is well-acquainted with the problems at Val’s, but says the hotel is not unusual.
“We regularly speak to rough sleepers from all parts of Greater Manchester and the majority would say they have had bad experiences in B&Bs - and would feel safer sleeping on the streets rather than somewhere like Val’s hotel,” he says.
“Homeless people are often in need of intensive professional support, and this must be consistent over time.
“B&B accommodation offers little, if any, support to people in need. In our experience, almost everyone who is housed in B&B accommodation becomes homeless again.”
The M.E.N. put the conditions in Val’s, Warren’s, Gransmoor and similar properties to the council and asked how it goes about regulating such housing. It said all such licensed ‘houses of multiple occupation’ receive an annual inspection to check on space requirements and amenities such as the number of kitchens and bathrooms. In extreme circumstances, those licenses can be revoked.
Recently, following the establishment of a citywide working group on B&B accommodation that includes Justlife, it has also started unannounced inspections.
Clearly, however, such a regime has not eliminated the problem. And there are many in the sector who say they privately fear that due to a lack of an alternative, were such guesthouses to close down tomorrow, the vast majority of residents would end up on the streets - in the absence of any other option.
Emergency accommodation in the city is already under huge strain. The town hall’s spending on it has trebled since 2016 and it is expecting a further 60pc rise in people approaching it for support over the next couple of years as Universal Credit is rolled out further and changes to legislation place more duties on local authorities. Meanwhile, the rocketing numbers of rough sleepers in the city are already well-documented.
Nevertheless, the council says it is doing what it can to come up with new solutions, including by trying to stop people falling between the cracks in the first place.
“Together with a wide range of public and voluntary sector partners as part of the Manchester homeless partnership, we are working very hard to tackle this challenging issue with a strong emphasis on prevention to stop those at risk of homelessness from falling into it in the first place, as well as providing a wide range of temporary accommodation and intensive support to help anyone who does become homeless to enable them to move forwards and build sustainable independent lives,” says deputy council leader Bernard Priest.
“We are striving to strengthen this support all the time - for example, the homeless prevention centre in Chorlton - and reduce homelessness. This includes the Street Support network of charities and the
Big Change multi-charity ‘alternative giving’ campaign which is helping people build a life away from the streets by paying for items such as a deposit for a flat.”
But while the town hall is ploughing an extra £3m into its homelessness service this year, he says