As the Green Party’s Disability Officer and a disability housing policy expert, I have reviewed the Council’s proposed borough-wide crackdown on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).
My findings, detailed in a formal letter to Cabinet Member Councillor Richard Overton, reveal a policy so deeply flawed, so casually cruel in its omission of disabled people, that it demands public condemnation.
I am profoundly disappointed, but sadly not surprised, that the Labour-run Cabinet has allowed these proposals to reach public consultation. They should be deeply ashamed. Once again, in a glaring act of institutional thoughtlessness, the housing needs and rights of disabled people have been entirely omitted from their thinking. This isn’t just an oversight; it’s a failure of duty and a betrayal of some of our community’s most vulnerable residents.
Let’s be clear: the technical flaws in the evidence base are severe enough to sink the proposal. The report confuses correlation with causation, uses shaky data, and presents a legally risky borough-wide approach that likely violates national planning guidance. Its economic assessment is superficial, risking a reduction in affordable housing and higher rents for everyone. The enforcement plan is vague, setting the scheme up to fail.
But beyond the technical incompetence lies a more profound moral failure. In a document spanning dozens of pages, there is not a single meaningful consideration of disabled residents. No data on their needs, no analysis of how restricting HMO supply will affect them, no standards for accessibility in licensing, and no planning policies to secure adapted or wheelchair-accessible shared housing.
This ignores the stark reality that HMOs are often the only affordable option for disabled people on low incomes, including young disabled adults, students, and those receiving benefits. By proposing to restrict supply without any mandate for accessibility, the Labour Cabinet is actively perpetuating the exclusion of disabled people from the private rented sector. They are worsening the accessible housing crisis with their eyes wide open. This is a direct contradiction of their own Housing Strategy and a likely breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Where is the opposition? The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Independents are, characteristically, quiet on the subject. Reform UK, who often posture as a voice for the people, are strangely silent on this issue too. It falls to us, the Green Party, and to the community, to shout about this injustice.
This flawed process and this discriminatory outcome are precisely why #TelfordDeservesBetter and #WrekinDeservesBetter. We deserve evidence-based policy, not prejudice-driven hunches. We deserve housing strategies that include everyone, not ones that discard disabled residents as an afterthought. We deserve a council that protects the vulnerable, not one that designs policies that will inevitably harm them.
I urge every resident to read the consultation and object to these proposals. Demand that the Council goes back to the drawing board. Insist on a proper Equality Impact Assessment, robust evidence, targeted interventions, and—above all—a housing policy that has dignity, accessibility, and inclusion at its heart.
The Labour Cabinet must withdraw these proposals and think again. Our disabled neighbours deserve nothing less.
My full technical analysis and disability-focused response to Councillor Richard Overton has been submitted as a formal consultation response and is available here.
Comments
Post a Comment