Developers converting family homes into shared houses are “worsening Bristol’s housing crisis” according to a councillor for Cotham.
Bristol City Council was slammed for having “no idea” how many houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) there are in the city, despite recent efforts to address the issue.
A planning application to convert what was originally a two-bed house in Bishopston into a six-person HMO sparked a fierce debate on Wednesday, May 18.
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The council’s development control committee is set to refuse the application for the HMO on Oak Road, as locals fear the huge proliferation of shared houses is harming the community.
Reading out a statement from local residents, Councillor Emma Edwards, representing Bishopston and Ashley Down, said HMOs in the area were “eroding quality of life”.
She said: “There are big concerns about parking. We have seen the decline of the street from what was once a friendly community place to what it is now—a place of increasing numbers of transitory people who quite rightly just want to get on with their lives with little involvement with other residents.
"However, for the long term residents, it feels like relentless erosion of our quality life and environment. Some have already had enough and left.”
Nigel Green, the applicant, addressed the planning committee with his plans, although much of what he said was inaudible. He said young professionals “deserve to live here”.
He said: ”I very much appreciate concerns over parking. I’m aware it’s challenging for young professionals to find good quality affordable housing in Bristol. In my experience they want to be part of a community with attractive, safe walking environments and great transport links. I believe in mixed and balanced communities, and I believe young professionals deserve the opportunity to live here.”
The house on Oak Road originally had two bedrooms, but ground-floor and roof extensions were recently built adding two extra bedrooms. Now the landlord wants to subdivide the property creating a fifth bedroom. Four bedrooms would be single rooms and one would be double, with space for six residents in total.
More than 200 people objected to the application to convert the house on Oak Road, due to concerns over parking pressures and the rapidly increasing number of HMOs already in the nearby area.
Bristol City Council has been trying to regulate and control the amount of HMOs in the city, agreeing a new planning policy in November 2020. The new ‘supplementary planning document’ means any application for a new HMO could be refused if it led to an overconcentration of them in the area—specifically if more than one in 10 homes were HMOs.
But the council has two main hurdles in enforcing the problem. One is that when an HMO is found that is unlicensed or without planning permission, the council can’t immediately force the landlord to convert the property back into a family home, as this would mean kicking out the current residents. The second hurdle is knowing exactly how many HMOs there are.
In Bishopston, council planning officers said the new conversion on Oak Road should be allowed, as only 7.8% of homes within 100 metres were classed as HMOs. But councillors questioned how accurate that data was, and locals said the true figure was far higher.
Asked what proportion of HMOs in Bristol are licensed, Gary Collins, service manager for development management, said he didn’t know.
He said: “I’m sorry, I have no idea. I know the housing department has dealt with a significant amount of housing licensing over the last three to four years. I honestly don’t know the percentage, but it’s significantly greater than before. It’s a significant number, but honestly I have no idea what the percentage is. I would suggest it’s quite high, but I have no evidence to base that on.
“We do know where a lot of the HMOs are now, because of licensing, we have that body of evidence and a spreadsheet with them all on. It hasn’t happened historically as quickly as we would like, that’s been down to resourcing—but we’re tackling that at the moment.”
Councillors on the development control committee were left unconvinced, and voted to defer the application until planning officers could come back with reasons to refuse permission.
Cotham Cllr Guy Poultney said: “Pretty much everyone who lives anywhere near this area believes that there are more. My experience in my ward shows that the council has very little idea of how many HMOs there are. I welcomed the policy when it came in, but we don’t have the data to enforce it.
“We haven’t been taking enforcement action—when we find out about unlicensed HMOs with no planning permission, we’re told there’s little action that can be taken because we can’t do anything to remove the residents who are in there at the moment. We keep piling in these HMOs, creating ever greater density and reducing the residential amenity for residents in that area.
“I do not know what more councillors can do to control the proliferation of HMOs in the city. It’s hugely damaging to the quality of life for our residents and it’s reducing the number of family homes in circulation. It’s worsening the housing crisis.”
Brislington East Cllr Katja Hornchen added: “I really dislike the fact that people are saying that ‘we need to have these HMOs, because young professionals starting out their lives should be allowed to live in squashy little places because they can’t afford a flat on their own’. It’s disgusting, I’m sorry.”
