The situation at a former office block in South Bristol requires further improvement, the cabinet member for housing delivery and homes has said.
His words came after a council review into the controversial Imperial Apartments development published this afternoon found that the site is "suitable for many families with children". Back in mid-February, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees announced the council was to pause housing families with children there while a review was carried out as he admitted there are "some challenges" at the site.
This came after BristolLive reported on many concerns from residents at the former Parkview office complex in Hengrove and a request from the Bristol South MP to stop housing families with children at the development, with the Lib Dems then joining the call and one councillor urging the council "to take responsibility".
Read more: Council to restart housing families with kids at Imperial Apartments
Speaking to BristolLive, Cllr Tom Renhard: "I think there is room for a lot of improvement [in how Caridon are managing Imperial Apartment]. I have been quite concerned by some of what has been raised in the report and I have been out to the site myself to raise concerns with Caridon.
"I will be going back out again to raise concerns in light of this report. I will also want to hear what their response is going to be to the recommendations, and whether they are going to implement them or not. We can't necessarily force them to, but what we can do is apply the maximum pressure."
Cllr Renhard said that lessons have been learnt from this arrangement with Caridon, in terms of the nature of the agreement that was signed and said that some things could have been more robust. He agreed with the point made by the mayor that Caridon was seen as the least worst option in the middle of a housing crisis.
The cabinet member for housing delivery and home clarified that the council is only going to restart housing families with children aged five or under at the site. He said he is seeking legal advice to see if they can restore the HomeChoice banding for the 19 families that are living in overcrowded properties and also for families with children over the age of five living there.
Cllr Renhard said that money had not been a factor in deciding the suitability of the flats. He added: "We have reached this decision around suitability of the accommodation based on the assessment of the space standards, that has been the focus. What we wanted to do with the review is to ensure that we are considering all factors about what would happen if we were to not fill the rooms.
"We are tied into a five-year agreement with a break clause in year three. Those are factors, but they do not affect how we view suitability of the rooms - that is based on space standards."
When asked whether the council would use the break clause, Cllr Renhard said they would be keeping the arrangement "under review" and that one of the factors they will be considering is whether Caridon implements the recommendations.
Clarifying the situation with children over five being housed there - after officers’ warning back in April 2021 that no child over five should live at the two-bed units created in the first phase - Cllr Renhard said they would be reviewing the situation for families with over fives there already. He said the council would see what they can do to move them if they want to move, adding no new families with children over the age of five will be placed there.
Do you live at Imperial Apartments? What do you think about living there? Our reporter Estel would love to hear from you. You can contact her directly on estel.farellroig@reachplc.com
However, when asked what the maximum number of adults and number of children allowed in one of the properties the council has referred a family to, Cllr Renhard couldn't answer during the interview, but said he would ask the service to answer that question.
When asked what analysis of police call outs and crimes recorded at Imperial Apartments had been done as part of the review, as risk of violence is a one of the criteria to be used to decide suitability, Cllr Renhard said they ask police for data across all of their housing blocks and emphasised that the council has a big focus on crime reduction at the moment.
Police data shows officers are continuing to be called to a former office block in South Bristol pretty much every day. Avon and Somerset Police data shows officers were called to Imperial Apartments in Hengrove 113 times in the space of four months.
This means that, between February and May, officers were on average called 28.25 times to the site each month. Since the beginning of the year, police have recorded 26 crimes at the site - including 12 in the month of March.
The councillor also emphasised that people being housed at Imperial Apartments have low or no support needs and said that the council does everything it can to carry out a full, holistic assessment prior to housing someone.
"To turn on its head, it is about what are Caridon doing to address the drug use in the building?," he continued. "As a private provider - because these are not council-provided flats - we entered an agreement that allows some people to be placed there at LHA rates.
"In the private rented sector in Bristol, there isn't much stock at local housing allowance rates. We have 16,000 people on our housing waiting list. It is not an ideal situation for any of us. I think the real question is, what are Caridon doing to tackle issues around drug use, anti-social behaviour? Are they doing all that they should be?
"They are making over £5.5m gross from that site, and that is a conservative estimate, you would think they can probably afford to spend a bit more on security or make additional investments where they need to to ensure the site is suitable for the people living there."
The cabinet member for housing delivery and homes said that the council is holding Caridon to account, for example via weekly meetings. Cllr Renhard said the council is concerned about the discrepancy in flat sizes that was identified in the report, with all but seven properties smaller than the original dimensions given, adding that "some may say it looks like we may have been misled".
"They do need to answer why there is a discrepancy in the information that has been provided," he continued. "In terms of why HMO standards, I can not necessarily speak for the officers too much, but I assume it is down to having something that most closely applies to use when they are trying to work out what is a suitable space.
"Those standards, in light of anything else that they had, based on what Caridon were able to do when they developed the site in the first place, were the ones that they chose to use."
Cllr Renhard couldn't say how many Imperial Apartments residents had been spoken to as part of the review. "That is one we will have to take away and get an answer from the service," he continued. "One of the things that I would point to is one of the recommendations that has been made is around tenants' engagement, and that not being seen to work sufficiently in terms of how Caridon are doing it.
"We have made a recommendation that they need to massively up that and that they also need to involve local councillors in that process."
The report recommends that the council needs to hold Caridon accountable for mitigating rising energy costs for tenants, including through Caridon creating an action plan. It states: "BCC asked Caridon to write a document giving an overview of the key elements which contribute to tenants’ energy costs (e.g. insultation, heating units, boilers) and setting out an action plan specifying how they will help mitigate rising energy costs for tenants."
Cllr Renhard wasn't able to confirm whether such document had been prepared by Caridon. This comes after minutes from weekly meetings between the council and Caridon in March 2021, showed that it had become apparent that British Gas were charging the wrong rates. Before Christmas, a councillor in the area was approached by residents there saying they were getting bills of up to £300 a month.
The minutes at the time said: "If not on average at £60 then this is not affordable for many tenants. And as a local authority can’t discharge duties of homelessness if these flats aren’t affordable."
Cllr Renhard said this was a point of concern and that he would take this away and look into it further. However, he said that the councillor hadn't raised this with him directly and added: "It is something we need to look at. I think the other thing is there is a big focus on retrofitting now and ensuring buildings are properly retroffited to reduce the cost of bills.
"There is a fair question to ask to Caridon about what they are doing to ensure that they are retrofitting that building appropriately, or what additional measures they are going to take when we are in the middle of a cost of living crisis. "
