An application to licence a hostel for “vulnerable adults” beside a centre for young people with learning disabilities in South Belfast has been met with fierce opposition at City Hall.
At the Belfast City Council Licensing committee this week, an application by Queens Quarter Housing Limited for HMO licences on two flats at 6 Sandhurst Road, in the Holylands, was deferred for the committee to receive “strategic” advice from council officers.
Elected representatives deferred the matter after a council official from the Licensing department told the committee the application was “unsuitable". Representatives from the Autonomie centre, located beside the hostel at 4 Sandhurst Road, alleged that hostel residents had abused and harassed their staff and had been seen taking and dealing drugs, and consuming alcohol in groups outside their building. The hostel is also located opposite a block of 25 retirement flats at Fitzroy Court, operated by Choice Housing.
