In just four years, John Freeman has lived in around 30 different “exempt” accommodation properties in Birmingham, with his stays frequently breaking down due to a lack of support for his mental health and addiction issues. This reflects a growing crisis in the city, where the use of exempt accommodation – a type of unregulated supported housing for vulnerable people – has soared in recent years, with Birmingham now home to around 30,000 such units.
“It’s terrible. Putting people with mental health problems in a house of people with mental health problems with no supervision is not helping anyone,” the 37-year-old said. “They say they’re going to do this and that, but as soon as they get you in there, they’re not interested. There’s no support, so you just end up moving from place to place.”
The issue is particularly acute in Selly Park, where 42% of properties on Pershmore Road are now exempt housing, many of which were previously student homes. A local campaign group estimates that there are 258 people living in 55 exempt accommodation properties concentrated in this small area, approximately 12% of the local population.
Chris Hasler, a community leader, says there has been a sharp increase in anti-social behaviour in Selly Park, including drug dealing and violence. Landlords are snapping up cheap terraced houses and converting them into six- to nine-bedroom properties, cramming bedrooms into attics and extensions, which they then lease to exempt accommodation providers who can charge higher rents through housing benefit.
However, many of these supposedly “supported” houses come with little actual support. Freeman said someone would check on him once a week, but he was otherwise left to fend for himself in a house where he was often kept awake all night by people taking drugs and banging on the walls.
“You put people with all different conditions in one house with basically no supervision, so obviously there’s going to be conflict,” he said.
Sarah*, a 32-year-old who moved into nearby exempt accommodation after fleeing 13 years of domestic abuse, said she was distressed by the environment she was forced to live in, which prevented her from being able to move on from her trauma.
“I couldn’t sleep because people would be banging on my door asking me for money,” she said. “They shouldn’t be putting us in homes with drug addicts and alcoholics, we’ve all gone through abuse in different ways.”
The local church, Christ Church Selly Park, has stepped in to try and help, stocking emergency bags of food for new arrivals and providing training for volunteers on how to best assist people while maintaining professional boundaries. However, the Rev Ben Green acknowledged that the level of support some people need is far more than the church can offer.
“We’re mainly just here to try to be nice to people, to love them, but we don’t have experience of social work and, actually, the level of support some people need is far more than we can offer. But then we’re stuck because we know they’re not getting it from somewhere else,” he said.
The situation has left the local community frustrated and concerned about the long-term impact on the area. Hasler said there had been a sharp increase in anti-social behaviour, and the area was now in the top 10% in the country for crime.
“Two years ago there was none of this sort of stuff on the street but it’s really building up. This is the worry with all these delays to the legislation – there’s a tipping point and then how do you ever get the street back to family homes?” he said.
Hasler acknowledged that the residents were more concerned about the people living in the exempt accommodation properties than the properties themselves.
“These are vulnerable people. They’ve got to live somewhere. But it’s how we manage it. They need to be getting the care for their own benefit and for the benefit of the community,” he said.
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.