Reform UK leader Nigel Farage branded the Black Country the ‘HMO capital of Britain’ during a visit to Sedgley.
The outspoken leader of the party, which is tipped for big gains in Dudley Council elections on May 7, hit the campaign trail on April 20 where he met voters to talk tough on immigration.
Mr Farage said Dudley Council’s boast there was only one asylum hotel in the borough which is soon to close will not solve any problems.
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Mr Farage said: “Hotels closing on the face of it might look like good news but it’s probably incredibly bad news because the people who were in the hotels don’t just disappear in a puff of smoke.
“They then get put into HMOs (homes in multiple occupation) in residential streets.
“If you look at the statistics for Dudley, Wolverhampton, look at Smethwick, look at all these towns around here, basically you guys here are the HMO capitals of Britain.”
Mr Farage says local authorities should stand up against planning applications for a change of use for private dwellings to HMOs.
He said of Reform UK-controlled councils: “We’d be very bloody-minded, there is a lot we can do about change of use. The council could make things much more difficult.”
He was also quick to dismiss the argument that planners are unable to reject applications on the grounds properties may be occupied by particular groups of people which is not a planning matter.
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Mr Farage said: “‘There is nothing we can do’ – we hear it everywhere in the country these days, it’s like we have given up.
“We might as well wave a bloody white flag over the town hall.
“I think the truth is if lots of local authorities were to stand up and fight central government, or even just a handful were to stand up and fight central government, central government would probably put HMOs elsewhere because they wouldn’t want the aggro.”
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Council’s do not keep data on all HMOs in their area however Office of National Statistics records from the 2021 census categorises dwellings into small HMOs of up to four occupants, large HMOs of five or more occupants and dwellings where the definition of an HMO does not apply.
According to the data, Dudley has 140,193 non-applicable dwellings, 87 small HMOs and six large HMOs.
Sandwell has 134,521 non-applicable dwellings, 208 small and 29 large HMOs while the Wolverhampton Council area has 112,187 non-applicable dwellings with 187 small and 28 large HMOs.
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Further afield, Doncaster has 140,233 non-applicable dwellings, 139 small HMOs and 39 large HMOs, Bromley in Kent has 141,758 non-applicable dwellings with 271 small and 54 large HMOs and Shropshire has 147,498 non-applicable, 153 small and 106 large HMOs.
Larger towns, not surprisingly, have higher HMO concentrations; Nottingham has 130,258 non-applicable dwellings with 2,066 small and 2,085 large HMOs, Leicester has 132,889 non-applicable, 1,311 small and 459 large HMOs and Kingston upon Hull has 122,008 non-applicable, 628 small and 290 large HMOs.
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