PROSTITUTION AND DRUG DEALS NEAR HOTEL FOR HOMELESS
Rough sleepers housed at Holiday Inn since start of the pandemic
FED-UP business owners claim they have seen a rise in drug dealing and prostitution near a hotel used to house rough sleepers.
Stoke-on-trent City Council moved dozens of homeless people into the three-star Holiday Inn Express at Trentham Lakes, last year as part of the government’s ‘Everyone In’ drive during the pandemic.
Bosses of companies based nearby say this resulted in a spike in crime and anti-social behaviour in the area – despite the council offering support for those staying in the hotel.
They have since been moved into alternative accommodation, including the relocated Macari Centre in Hanley.
But members of the council’s adults and neighbourhoods overview and scrutiny committee raised concerns about the criminal activity.
Councillor Ross Irving said:
“I have a relative who works in close proximity to the hotel, and the horror stories he was telling me regarding drug dealing and prostitution – their opinion was that there was little or no supervision of the people who were staying there and funded out of public resources.
“From the reports I received, it wasn’t just occasionally. There were serious issues regarding criminal activity. Whether the people who we put in were able to control that, I don’t know.
“Let’s hope we don’t need to do this again. But we do need to have some very firm control over the activity of residents. A lot of the people I spoke to found it completely unacceptable.”
During the first lockdown last year, the government ordered councils to provide accommodation for all rough sleepers.
The authorities were also told to close dormitory-style shelters, such as the old Macari Centre, which resulted in the city council making use of the Holiday Inn and the Crown Hotel in Longton.
At the Holiday Inn, the council commissioned support for the homeless people from Concrete, formerly known as Arch North Staffordshire, part of the Honeycomb Group.
Tomos Jones, strategic manager for homelessness, told the committee: “We worked very closely with the police, in particular around the Holiday Inn.
“At one point I think we had 50 individuals there, and many of them had come straight off the streets, so you would expect that some of them would find that a difficult transition.
“I think there’s a lesson for us, certainly when we have large numbers of homeless households, including people who have been sleeping rough, with complex needs.
It’s not acceptable to place those people into accommodation without any form of support.”
Melanie Dunn, director of support and wellbeing at Honeycomb Group, said: “I wasn’t aware of any significant issues within the building itself. Concrete did provide support.
“There is the issue of vulnerability, and sometimes that means people do congregate in the area.
“I think what’s important is how we work with the community.”
The Holiday Inn declined to comment.