Landlords ruining lives and whole areas of city
Minister supports fightback against tide of human misery
ASENIOR minister has pledged to back Birmingham’s efforts to crack down on the impact of so-called ‘exempt’ supported housing after police highlighted the stark link to crime.
Policing minister Kit Malthouse was left in no doubt about the desperate impact caused in Lozells by concentrations of homes full of the troubled and vulnerable, addicts and ex-criminals, stuck in neighbourhoods with nothing to do and little support.
He said officers had told him during a visit to the city that solving the crisis was the ‘‘single thing’’ he could do that would make their lives easier.
It was a message also hammered home by Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, who told him it was vital the Government acted with urgency to regulate the exempt sector to allow enforcement against providers who are not looking after vulnerable tenants properly.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Baker also flagged the problem of ‘exempt housing’ – a type of supported housing which allows landlords to claim enhanced housing benefits on behalf of their tenants, on the promise of providing them with support.
Mr Baker said: “Nobody holds the owners and managers of exempt housing to account. For example, in one case, a landlord’s ‘support’ was providing a loaf of bread and jam a week.
“But you are talking about residents who may have mental health issues, others who have been domestic abuse victims, housed with domestic abuse perpetrators, high levels of drug and alcohol usage. It’s very difficult to police”.
During a briefing and walkabout that took in parts of Soho Road, Villa Road and St George’s Park, the minister was told that hotspots for crime in the area tended to overlap with places where there were high concentrations of exempt properties.
The area, one of the most deprived in the country, has been at the centre of a wave of violence, with county lines drug dealing operations and gangs contributing to incidents.
Mr Malthouse was briefed by top West Midlands Police officers, who set out how the force has been spending some of the £16 million the Home Office awarded it over three years, to reduce serious violence.
More than 70% of Lozells households are classed as deprived and over 50% of people have little or no education or formal qualifications.
Inspector Nick Hill, policing commander for the area, also explained how the area had been selected as an ‘impact’ area by the force, meaning targeted policing, including the identification of ‘hotspot’ areas within Lozells.
As a result of policing efforts in the past year, there has been a 38% decrease in knife crime, a 29% drop in robberies and a 38% decrease in vehicle crime, force data has shown.
Mr Malthouse said: “I’m here because it’s an area of concentration for some of the work we’re trying to do nationally on violence and gangs and drugs to help build as safe a country as we possibly can.”
He added the force was having a “very impressive impact” on “key indicators” of neighbourhood crime, robbery and violence.
He said: “We looked at this modern approach to hotspot policing, using really close analysis where violence is occurring, making sure you’ve got cops there at the right time.
“We’ve put a lot of money into it across 18 areas of the country and the results so far are looking very good.”
He added: “Overall, we’re seeing violence numbers tumbling across the country, down quite significantly over the last couple of years. But there’s also much more to do.”
Mr Malthouse added the approach was not only about enforcement but, longer term, making sure young children were “turned away” from a life of crime.
“Now, that is difficult work, it takes a long time to turn that tanker,” he said. “I will be going back and having an urgent conversation, not just with Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove, but with the Department for Work and Pensions, who fund these houses through the housing benefit system to look at what more we can do and deal with this problem of rip-off landlords taking advantage of the welfare system.”