City council is ‘slum landlord’

Councillors condemn appalling conditions as ‘housing emergency’ declared

AHOUSING emergency has been declared in Birmingham with thousands of families stuck in temporary accommodation and the city in the grip of a property repair and maintenance crisis.

The move was agreed by councillors after a debate in which they shared stories of tenants in distress, children struggling to breathe in mouldy homes, leaking ceilings, no heating and troubling anti social behaviour and crime blighting lives.

Their concerns echoed stories highlighted by the Birmingham Post recently, many of them referred to by angry councillors, who said more needed to be done urgently.

Opposition Conservative councillor Ewan Mackey said: “At this time the biggest slum landlord in Birmingham is Birmingham City Council.” He urged the authority ‘‘get its own house in order’’.

At one point Birmingham’s Labour leader, Cllr Ian Ward, was challenged by Conservative leader Cllr Robert Alden to say if he would live in one of the council’s flats. He did not reply.

The council is landlord to over 60,000 households and among the startling facts highlighted during the debate were:

■ The proportion of homes not of a ‘decent standard’ in Birmingham is now 29 per cent (nationally 7.8 per cent).

■ There have been 15,000 complaints from tenants of Birmingham City Council housing in four years.

■ More than 4,000 families are stuck living in temporary accommodation.

The council has been named and shamed by Levelling Up Minister Michael Gove and the Housing Ombudsman as one of the worst culprits when dealing with serious issues, with multiple rulings of maladministration and two rulings of severe maladministration.

The council is awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the Housing Ombudsman into its handling of tenant issues.

Conservative cuts over 12 years, right-to-buy legislation drastically reducing the number of social homes, the rise of behemoth housing associations deemed out of touch with their communities, the surge in exempt accommodation in the city and ageing blocks of flats and Victorian terraces were all given as underlying causes of the crisis.

A dire shortage of social homes for families, especially for larger families, and rising demand due to domestic violence and financial woes were all exacerbating the situation, the debate heard.

Cllr Sharon Thompson, Labour’s cabinet member for housing and neighbourhoods, defended the council’s record, and highlighted instead the multiple failures and austerity cuts made by central Government.

Cllr Thompson told how the council had been forced to divert £54 million from its budget to fund lifesaving sprinklers and cladding on tower blocks across the city following the Grenfell Tower fire, without any recompense from central Government.

She said: “The current housing system nationally is failing too many people. I don’t shy away from my responsibilities, which is why we have a new housing strategy to tackle some of the local and national problems. We have committed to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing and to retrofit properties.

“We are fully aware of the issues around the condition of our stock and the complaints we receive from tenants and we are acting to put this right.

“We have a national housing crisis. The Tories have had 13 years to deliver on improvements but it is getting worse. What we need is a Labour government that will work with councils to deliver the social and affordable homes we so desperately need.”

Councillors supported amended motions which included declaring a housing emergency and pledging to focus housing services on providing decent, safe homes, and lobbying the Government for further investment in decent homes.

But a Conservative motion to declare a vote of no confidence in the Labour leader and the executive around the repair and maintenance of housing stock, claiming the council has ‘‘failed in its moral and legal duties’’, was lost.

Tory councillor Adrian Delaney claimed: “The Labour administration blames everyone for its problems but refuses to take any responsibility for its own failings. This culture runs through the whole organisation.”

At this time the biggest slum landlord in Birmingham is Birmingham City Council Conservative Cllr Ewan Mackey