The city’s new MP Paulette Hamilton has for the first time addressed ‘rumours’ that she is hiding links to ‘exempt’ supported housing for the homeless – a controversial topic on the election trail in Erdington.
Senior city councillor Hamilton, who took the Erdington seat in a by-election earlier this month, said she wanted to be straight about her family’s property ownership because of repeated ‘innuendo’ about it. She revealed her husband of 35 years, Dennis, owns a second property in the city other than the family home.
It is being leased to a property firm who in turn rent it out to people needing somewhere to live. The deal generates £700 income a month for the Hamiltons and is a common, perfectly legal practice.
Read more: Victory for Birmingham as Government pledges clampdown on hell-hole ‘exempt’ hostels and houses
But when pressed Cllr Hamilton said she did not know or have any control over who lived at the property. And when directly asked to clarify: ‘Is it leased out to a supported housing provider, an exempt provider?’ the MP responded: “I just don’t know, I don’t know if it’s an HMO or exempt or what it is, I just don’t know, I don’t deal with it, it is rented out to a company. I have put the house on declarations, because it belongs to my husband and is in the Birmingham area.
“We do not have any control over the property and who lives there,” she said. She added the property had been ‘handed over’ for the duration of a five year lease term to a third party, in a move that was ‘headache free’.
She said it was the family’s only property in the city other than the family home. She volunteered the information because, she said: “I’ve been told my political opponents have been dropping hints about this property. I just want to set things straight.
“I understand during an election hustings it was mentioned or alluded to, and I just want to set it straight. They are just being petty. It is not my property, it belongs to my husband, but I have included it in my declarations.”
The reason this issue matters is that concerns about an explosion in the number of properties designated as ‘exempt’ supported housing across Erdington and citywide was a key battleground in the by-election. Some parts of the constituency have become overrun with properties housing those entitled to accommodation and support. In Stockland Green, more than 400 houses have become exempt supported properties – with the number rising every week.
When well run, they are a lifeline for the homeless and a stepping stone to fully independent living, but when badly run, it causes safeguarding issues for the tenants and trouble for the neighbourhood. When asked where the property was, she said she was not prepared to share that information, and said she did not know the name of the lease company.
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She added the property had previously been a home for a daughter who had since moved back into the family home shortly before the pandemic. It was put up for sale but did not sell, so husband Dennis made the lease arrangement instead.
The property had been declared on the council’s register of interests, she said. Councillors are required to submit details of any land in Birmingham which they or their spouse/partner have any interests.
When we checked the entry, the details of land ownership had been withheld, with a message stating this was due to a ‘dispensation of the monitoring officer’. We have asked the city council’s monitoring officer since last Wednesday to explain the reason for this dispensation, which is also applied to other councillors, so far without response.
It is perfectly legitimate for councillors and their partners or other family to own additional properties or land, as long as they declare interests they are required to in their register of interests and during relevant council meetings.
We contacted the city council last Wednesday to request more details to clarify the land declaration entry and the dispensation status, providing further details later in the week. We also approached Cllr Hamilton the same day to try to further clarify the status of the property, and gave several days to her and the regional Labour Party to respond in light of personal circumstances.
We have not yet received a response from the council, Cllr Hamilton or the regional Labour party. Birmingham City Council is currently investigating a separate issue involving Cllr Hamilton’s declarations of interest linked to her board membership of a specialist supported housing provider, which gives accommodation and support to asylum seekers and refugees.
Read our story about that issue here – New MP Paulette Hamilton failed to declare housing firm link in £1.5m council debate
Today Cllr Ewan Mackey, Conservative group deputy leader, said: “The Localism Act correctly allows councillors to be able to secure a dispensation on publishing a personal address, as disclosing a home address could lead a member, or a person connected to the member, being subject to violence or intimidation. However, it is concerning to hear that dispensations are being given to addresses that are not home addresses.
“We will be asking the council to review how the dispensations are given due to the perceived conflict of interest this has been causing.”
The supported housing sector and why it is in the spotlight
Mrs Hamilton, along with every MP in the city, all party groups on Birmingham City Council and residents’ groups, has been campaigning for tougher regulations and stricter enforcement to clamp down on exploitation in the ‘exempt’ supported housing sector.
More than 8,000 properties in the city are now given over to the ‘exempt’ sector. In many cases, property owners and landlords lease out individual homes to supported housing providers, who in turn fill rooms with tenants requiring accommodation and extra support.
Many of them are run well, providing a good standard of accommodation and support for tenants. But some are badly run, triggering safeguarding concerns for tenants and chaos for neighbours, especially in areas with a concentration of similar properties.
‘Exempt’ accommodation is aimed at people at risk of homelessness who need support, including ex prisoners, addicts and recovering addicts, people with mental illnesses, rough sleepers, young care leavers, refugees and asylum seekers, domestic violence survivors and anyone struggling to cope.
The Erdington constituency is one of the city’s hotspots, with hundreds of family homes now turned into exempt properties, often alongside other types of multiple occupied houses (HMOs). The concentration has posed major challenges and continues to grow.
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