Ipswich Council has pointed the figure at HMO landlords for the town’s failure to house more homeless people but is pressing ahead with plans to restrict HMO numbers.

A council report notes that there has been a drop in the number of households helped out of homelessness when comparing the final quarter of 2021/22 to 2023/24 when it fell from 214 to 158, the Ipswich Star reports.

It believes the reduction is partly down to private landlords preferring to deal with employed people. A council report explains: “The main way the team can relieve homelessness is by providing accommodation in the private rented sector.

“The private rented sector market in the borough remains buoyant and gaining access for the people being dealt with is difficult, as landlords often prioritise people in employment.

Fewer options

There have been fewer options in supported housing and a reduction in HMO accommodation which both affect single people. This could have had an impact on the number of successful relief outcomes.”

Despite this, the council is still looking to crack down on HMOs being created in the town, after issuing an Article 4 directive in parts of Ipswich last June.

It covers large parts of Westgate, Castle Hill and Alexandra wards, as well as northern sections in Bridge, St John’s and Priory Heath, eastern areas of Gipping and Gainsborough, and parts of Bixley, Hollywells, Rushmere and St Margaret’s.

The council now wants to expand these powers across the entire borough and has put in an application to Housing Secretary Angela Rayner.

Last November, councillors rejected plans for a register of all HMO licensing applications in the town. Instead, they agreed to try and encourage a national debate around prompting a change to regulations so that all new HMOs would have to apply to a council’s planning committee, in a bid to regulate numbers.