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Calls for Liverpool housing chief to step down over 'out of touch' HMO comments

Veteran councillor Steve Radford has called on Hetty Wood to step down over her remarks to the ECHO on HMOs

[Liverpool Liberal councillor Steve Radford ]

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Liverpool Liberal councillor Steve Radford

Liverpools housing boss has been urged to resign after out of touch comments on the citys battle with houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). Cllr Hetty Wood told the ECHO how fearmongering and dogwhistle politics is driving misinformation around the use of HMOs.

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 Steve Radford, who represents Tuebrook Stoneycroft ward, took umbrage with the cabinet members assessment and has called for her to step down.

Cllr Wood, who took over the housing brief last May, 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 theres a lot of misinformation going on out there.

Theres a lot of fearmongering happening and theres 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 weve had HMOs across our city as long as anything.

The councils 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 authoritys efforts as a war.

[Cllr Hetty Wood, cabinet member for housing]

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Cllr Hetty Wood, cabinet member for housing

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 its this getting deeper into that.

I think theres also a concern that the only residents that are going into HMOs are migrants, and asylum seekers. One, thats not true, but secondly, theres 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, youre 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 theyre coming from incredibly difficult places and theyre coming here for peace, for a safe life. Theyre not coming for the reasons that are being whipped up by the far right.

Veteran Cllr Radford took issue with the Labour members comments and hit out at her stance. He said: In light of the cabinet member for housings attack on the legitimate concerns of working class communities being undermined by the proliferation of HMOs 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.

Responding to Cllr Radford's stance, Cllr Wood said: "I have never dismissed residents concerns about HMOs. The ECHO clearly published my words saying I understood the concerns that people have.

I meet residents and councillors from across the city to discuss issues regularly. I completely recognise that residents can have genuine concerns about poorly managed HMOs, anti-social behaviour and the loss of family housing in some areas.

My comments were directed at people who seek to exploit housing issues to create fear and division. It is perfectly possible to have a serious conversation about housing pressures without scapegoating particular groups of people.

The suggestion that we're ignoring these issues is untrue, and an attempt to stoke division. We're strengthening planning controls, increasing enforcement capacity and taking action against landlords who do not follow the rules.

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