City’s hostels are not fit for purpose

They believe that the anti-social behaviour of some residents at the hostel is seriously affecting their trade and will have a negative impact on the popularity of the Brighton i360.

David Cameron from the Regency Square Society told a recent meeting of city councillors, which I also attended, that hoteliers in the vicinity of the West Pier Project have suffered actual economic harm.

He said: “In order to understand the impact that these hostels have on the centres of Brighton and Hove's tourist industry the council should engage with hoteliers and see the situation from their point of view.

“Some hoteliers have kept diaries of anti-social and criminal behaviour and would be prepared to share this information.”

Mr Cameron painted a harrowing picture of the consequences of the hostel's “harm reduction” approach to drugs and alcohol abuse which contradicts the police force's “zero tolerance” attitude.

A spokeswoman for the i360 told me that the problem of drug and booze fuelled behaviour on the attraction's doorstep is not on the management's radar.

The hostel in Regency Square comprises two adjoining buildings leased by the council from a private landlord.

The lease was entered into in 2005 and is subject to an annual hike of 7%. The current lease price is £559,500 and will increase to £598,600 next year. The council plans to enter into leases from April / May 2015, with break clauses not exceeding five years. But the hostel model for dealing with homelessness is outdated and useless.

Figures I obtained from the council reveal that in the last five years there have been six deaths in accommodation for homeless people in the city. The causes of death were given as alcohol-respiratory arrest, ruptured oesophageal varices- blood loss, perforated ulcer, heart attack, and heroin, alcohol and benzodiazepine use.

Councils have outsourced the provision of temporary accommodation but they cannot abdicate responsibility.

Staff at hostels are not trained to deal with the complex issues faced by their residents. When the so-called container town in Richardson's Yard opened last year, I spent a night in one of the units and wrote about it for The Argus.

Chatting to a new-found neighbour, I learned about the terrifying experiences of people who live in the city’s hostels.

One housing professional told me he would rather take his chances on the street than in the city’s temporary accommodation for the homeless. Extortion, bullying and theft are common.

For the sake of local businesses, for visitors to the i360 and, most importantly, for the homeless people in the city, the council must urgently review how it provides accommodation. The hostels are not fit for purpose.

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