MPs:Time to drive dodgy landlords out of our city
THE Government must act ‘with breakneck speed’ to introduce new laws to drive corrupt and unscrupulous landlords out of the supported housing sector that has blighted Birmingham, a city MP said.
Jess Phillips pressed for urgent action in response to a damning report published into exempt accommodation.
The Labour MP for Yardley said: “The Government must act swiftly on every recommendation.
“We have been begging for years (for action); people have died in this accommodation and the taxpayer has paid hundreds of millions to absolute rogues. This is the politics that should have moved at breakneck speed.”
Campaigning MPs Preet Gill (Lab, Edgbaston) and Shabana Mahmood (Lab, Ladywood) also praised the report, which they said echoed the concerns they had been flagging up ‘for years’.
They spoke as an inquiry revealed that some tenants of badly-run supported housing in Birmingham have ‘paid with their lives’ – dying from drug overdoses, suicide or killed.
“The report, following an inquiry by a national cross party group of MPs, should finally be the ‘wake-up call’ the Government needs to act.
The scathing findings lay bare what city campaigners, MPs, and Birmingham City Council have been highlighting for three years.
Speaking in Parliament, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities select committee chairman Clive Betts (Lab, Sheffield South East) said the findings much it drawn from Birmingham – included that “those with an eye on quick returns, sometimes with malicious or criminal intent, see the system as an opportunity to make large or potentially illegal profits, all at the expense of the taxpayer.”
He thanked Birmingham City Council and those whose stories ‘brought to light’ how appalling the conditions could be for residents and neighbours.
The committee heard stories of harassment, prostitution, drug dealing and violence against tenants.
For many tenants, said Mr Betts, there was no way out, too afraid of taking a job because it would mean losing their benefits and a roof over their head.
Walsall North Conservative MP Eddie Hughes was previously homelessness minister and had pledged to acton the issues earlier this year, but not to the extent laid out by the report.
He said it was important for any legislation not to negatively impact on good providers.
But he was reassured by Mr Betts: “It is not just about closing down the bad but expanding the good, especially for survivors of domestic abuse.”
Steve McCabe (Lab, Selly Oak) said properties are sometimes used as fronts for criminal activity, and it was vital that any regulations now should include a ‘fit and proper person test’ for providers and linked companies, and a full inspection regime.
Speaking after the debate, Shabana Mahmood said: “For too long my constituents have had to put up with runaway antisocial behaviour, unchecked criminality, and dumped rubbish on their streets, all funded by the taxpayer through housing benefit. A complete overhaul of the sector is long-overdue... it is high time the Government acted.”