Salford City Council has outlined plans to manage the concentration of HMOs across the city.
The council suggested that the proposed changes could decrease “anti-social behaviour” in Salford. However the changes may have a negative impact on the students and young people residing there.
HMOs are properties occupied by unrelated individuals who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. The residents of HMOs may be unemployed, full time students or typically low-income workers.
This form of housing provides flexible accommodation for people with short-term housing requirements or people who are saving to buy a home.
The council wants to reduce the high concentration of HMOs in areas of Salford due to complaints of:
- Anti-social behaviour, noise and nuisance
- Imbalanced and unsustainable communities, with higher levels of transience and less sustainable local services
- Pressures on parking provision
- Increased crime
- Growth in the private rented sector at the expenses of owner-occupation
Councillors have drafted a supplementary planning document (SPD) aimed at managing the concentration of Houses of Multiple Occupants (HMOs) in the city.
The guideline will be that no more than 10 per cent of residential properties in any 100-metre radius should be HMOs.
The draft for the planning document states how plans have been produced to better manage the provision of new HMOs throughout Salford by providing a threshold to guide the location of them.
Cllr Mike McCusker said: “The reasons [for the SPD] are that, although the majority of HMOs in Salford are well managed and provide decent homes, experience has shown that an over concentration of HMOs can have an unacceptable impact on the positive residential characters of areas.”
Recent Comments