Liverpool's housing chief has been urged to resign after her comments on the city's battle with houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) were branded "out of touch" by a veteran councillor.
Cllr Hetty Wood, who took over the housing brief last May, told the ECHO that "fearmongering and dogwhistle politics" is driving misinformation around HMOs. Her remarks have prompted Cllr Steve Radford, who represents Tuebrook Stoneycroft ward, to call for her to step down.
HMO concerns in Tuebrook
As part of its 15-year vision for development of the city, Liverpool Council has outlined plans to curb the number of HMOs popping up in communities. An HMO is a property where three or more tenants who are not related to each other live together, usually with shared kitchens and bathrooms.
In Tuebrook, people have described the impact of HMOs and short-term rentals on long-standing residents, including incidents of violence, drunkenness and general anti-social behaviour. Cllr Radford took umbrage with the cabinet member's assessment and has called for her to step down.
Councillor's defence
Cllr Wood told the ECHO it was likely more people than not had themselves lived in HMO but took aim at far right agitators for stoking animosity towards communities. She said: "We totally recognise, and I totally recognise that people have worries about HMOs and who is living in HMOs, but I think there's a lot of misinformation going on out there.
"There's a lot of fearmongering happening and there's a lot of dogwhistle politics happening in terms of trying to wind people up. I think we need to look better and deeper into who is living in HMOs and we've had HMOs across our city as long as anything."
The council's local plan, to be adopted in 2027, covers development up to 2043, and contains plans to limit HMOs to just 10% of neighbourhood areas, retain more family dwellings and prevent homes being "sandwiched" by shared occupancy properties. Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, used a meeting of the cabinet to describe the authority's efforts as a "war."
Radford's response
Cllr Wood said false messaging had contributed to concerns growing around the use of HMOs in built up areas. She said: "I think people are concerned about people coming to the communities that they might not know, that they might not be there for a long time, but it's this getting deeper into that.
"I think there's also a concern that the only residents that are going into HMOs are migrants, and asylum seekers. One, that's not true, but secondly, there's so much fear mongering around migrants and asylum seekers that is totally incorrect and totally wrong and being whipped up by the far right to try and tell communities 'if you have asylum seekers in your community, you're not safe' and that has been put together with the HMO fearmongering.
"We really need to look into how many asylum seekers are in our city, who they are and the fact that they're coming from incredibly difficult places and they're coming here for peace, for a safe life. They're not coming for the reasons that are being whipped up by the far right."
Veteran Cllr Radford took issue with the Labour member's comments and hit out at her stance. He said: "In light of the cabinet member for housing's attack on the legitimate concerns of working class communities being undermined by the proliferation of HMO's as 'right wing scaremongering,' we believe that she is totally out of touch over the impact on communities and the legitimate concerns of local residents.
"This shows a contempt for the views of residents and her utter failure to protect balanced sustainable communities. We therefore call for her resignation as cabinet member for housing with immediate effect."
In a survey to residents, the city council has asked for input to "better assess the location and potential impacts of HMOs across Liverpool and determine the right solutions to best manage this type of housing, including whether additional controls through further Article 4 Directions (A4D) areas are necessary to protect the character and amenity of our neighbourhoods." Article 4 directions tighten the rules around permitted developments. Councils can use them to remove or restrict the right to convert normal family homes to HMOs.
