HIGHLAND councillors voiced their astonishment yesterday that the local authority had referred homeless people to unlicensed accommodation.
After widespread condemnation of the practice during a meeting of the housing and social work committee in Inverness, officials issued a statement suggesting there had been no alternative because of the authority’s obligation to find homeless people somewhere to stay.
Housing director Steve Barron confirmed “a couple” of situations in which homeless people had this week been placed in homes of multiple occupation (HMOs) which were “going through the licensing application process”.
He said the council had inspected the premises beforehand to address any concerns about fire or safety, conceding it was “not an ideal situation or one we would like to see continued”.
The mandatory licensing of landlords of HMOs was introduced following the deaths in 1999 of three students in a basement fire in Glasgow.
Horrified by this week’s revelation, opposition SNP group leader John Finnie told the committee: “It is absolutely disgraceful for a local authority that enforces HMO legislation to find itself in this position.”
Speaking after a private discussion yesterday afternoon with the council’s chief executive Alistair Dodds, he said he had been assured that the use of unlicensed accommodation would cease immediately. Mr Finnie added: “I expressed my dismay that his officials had confirmed that Highland Council was breaking the law.”
It is understood that, as of Tuesday night, the council was housing a total of four homeless people in unlicensed accommodation at two separate premises in Ross-shire.
Acknowledging that the authority was “desperate for accommodation”, Independent councillor Margaret Paterson had also urged the authority to halt the practice, conscious that one of the unlicensed properties is in her Dingwall and Seaforth ward.
In an attempt to reassure colleagues, housing and social work chairwoman Margaret Davidson told committee members: “It is not acceptable, and we are regularising that as we speak.”
In a statement later, she added that the council was “facing considerable pressure in meeting its statutory duties to homeless people”, with more than 600 at any given time regularly presenting themselves as homeless.