Council data reveals streets with the most shared houses in Brighton

Data from Brighton and Hove City Council has shown which streets in the city have the most shared houses.

In some of the streets, as many as 50 per cent of the dwellings are shared houses.

This comes as the council’s city plan part two introduced new policies to “better manage concentrations of houses in multiple occupation (HMO)”.

An HMO is a house that contains three or more unrelated occupants who share amenities like a bathroom and kitchen.

According to Brighton and Hove city council, there are about 5,000 licensed HMOs in the city.

The areas with the highest number of HMOs are:

1. St Mary Magdalene Street, Caledonian Road and Edinburgh Road – 81 HMOs making up 50 per cent of all dwellings
2. Mafeking Road and Ewhurst Road – 67 HMOs making up 45 per cent of all dwellings
3. Coombe Road – 64 HMOs making up 37 per cent of all dwellings
4. St Leonard’s Road, St Martin’s Place, Fairlight Place – 59 HMOs making up 30 per cent of all dwellings
5. Baden Road and Carlyle Avenue – 54 HMOs making up 25 per cent of all dwellings
6. St Martin’s Street and St Paul’s Street – 50 HMOs making up 41 per cent of all dwellings
7. Southall Avenue – 46 HMOs, making up 33 per cent of all dwellings
8. Park Crescent Road – 45 HMOs, making up 49 per cent of all dwellings
9. Medmerry Hill – 45 HMOs, making up 39 per cent of all dwellings
10. London Terrace and London Road – 44 HMOs, making up 15 per cent of all dwellings

This map shows the distribution of HMOs in the city (Image: Brighton and Hove City Council)

David Mead, of Upper Lewes Road, said shared houses have “destroyed” the sense of community in the area.

He said: “Shared houses have done enormous, incalculable and irreparable damage to my life.”

Mr Mead expects that numbers are much higher than listed and said he believes there are many more unlicensed, illegal HMOs.

The council said that HMOs provide flexible and affordable accommodation for students and residents.

However, it acknowledged that high concentrations of HMOs can have negative impacts on communities.

The new city plan aims to avoid high concentrations of HMOs while meeting the city’s housing needs.

Under the new policy planning applications will only be considered where all the following criteria are met:

• Fewer than 20% of dwellings in the wider neighbourhood area are already in use as HMOs
• The proposal does not lead to three or more HMOs immediately adjacent to each other
• The proposal does not result in a non-HMO house being sandwiched between two HMOs where the three houses are immediately adjacent to each other.

Mr Mead said these measures, while welcome are “too little too late”.

Councillor David Gibson, who co-chairs the housing committee, said: “This city plan sets out better management of the supply of HMOs.”