Supported housing: Failures to home vulnerable safely 'abhorrent'

Vicky McDermott is calling on the government to reform the supported housing system so it is safer

A housing boss has called for an overhaul of supported accommodation, saying it is "abhorrent" vulnerable people are let down by their landlords.

Vicky McDermott took over Prospect Housing in Birmingham after inspectors found it was failing its 1,500 tenants.

A new report has found more than 150,000 UK households are living in exempt housing, which a charity said was "dangerously under-regulated".

Ms McDermott said systemic changes were needed to make people safer.

"A very large proportion of what's being delivered isn't where it should be," she said.

The government said it is "completely unacceptable for any landlord to abuse the exempt accommodation system".

'Life-changing stories'

The joint investigation by Prospect Housing and homelessness charity Crisis found 153,701 households across the UK were in supported housing as of May - an increase of 62% over five years.

The figures were released by the Department of Work and Pensions under the Freedom of Information Act.

Supported housing is paid for by housing benefit, however it is exempt from caps such as Local Housing Allowance, which has seen some providers abuse the system - over charging and providing little or no support.

Ms McDermott said the housing "isn't where it needs to be and not the right standard and not been overseen properly - that is an absolute given".

"There are life-changing stories when it works well, and what we need to get to is that end of the provision is the norm and not the exception," she added.

"It's abhorrent that you would find property that wasn't the right standard and the compliance wasn't in the right place."

'It got so bad I chose to live in a tent'

Lauren said her life was made hell by living alongside people holding drug-fuelled parties

Lauren Halligan has lived in three supported accommodation properties in Birmingham over the past 18 months after leaving her job due to mental health and back problems and found that she could no longer afford to live in her flat.

"There is no support system for people like me," she said.

"In these houses you are put with anyone, from people who've just left prison, drug addicts, people who are very mentally unwell to domestic abuse victims.

"It is all about the money to some of these landlords. It's not OK and more needs to be done."

Lauren said the drug-fuelled parties which took place in one property she was living in got so bad that she chose to stay in a tent in a park for a week - before turning to Crisis for help.

"Vulnerable people are all being housed together. They need to sit down, support them - don't just put them in a room and leave them.

"People end up dead in these places. It's not a joke, it's a fact. Something has to be done."

Prospect Housing is itself closing down following a scathing report by the Regulator of Social Housing, which found poor standards of accommodation, discrepancies in housing benefit claims and health and safety breaches.

It had been registered as a provider of supported accommodation since 2013 but has now rehomed more than 1,500 people over the summer - with fewer than 100 left to find housing for.

Following Ms McDermott's appointment as interim chief executive of Prospect in early 2020, following the report, £1.2m in over-claimed housing benefit was paid back to Birmingham City Council.

What is supported housing?

Anyone from ex-offenders to someone in receipt of universal credit can access supported accommodation, however there have been concerns raised about the conditions and level of support people are being given.

A BBC investigation in August heard from some residents about their "living hell" of being "stuck in a system" they cannot get out of.

Landlords can apply for provider status, exempting them from local licensing regulations and housing benefit caps. This means councils have few powers to act over the quality and safety of accommodation or how tenants are treated.

Ms McDermott was addressing an All Party Parliamentary Committee on Thursday to discuss the findings, calling for an independent select committee investigation to look into exempt supported accommodation.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: "The exempt accommodation sector is dangerously under-regulated.

"There are some good providers out there, but so many others are motivated only by money and are able to charge higher rents for essential support they have no intention of providing."

Birmingham, Bristol, Hull, Blackburn and Blackpool have been given a combined £5.4m from the government to test ways to improve standards in exempt accommodation.

A spokesman for The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it was "urgently reviewing the findings from these pilots to work out what further action is needed".

"It is completely unacceptable for any landlord to abuse the Exempt Accommodation system and we will not stand for it," he added.

More than 153,000 households were housed in exempt housing as of May 2021 - a 62% rise in five years