The streets with the most shared houses have been revealed.
Data from Brighton and Hove The city council showed which streets in the city have the most shared houses.
On some streets, up to 50% of the dwellings are shared houses.
It comes as part two of the council’s town plan introduced new policies to ‘better manage concentrations of multiple occupancy (HMO) homes’.
An HMO is a home that contains three or more unrelated occupants who share amenities like a bathroom and kitchen.
According Brighton and Hove City Council, there are approximately 5,000 licensed HMOs in the city.
The areas with the highest number of HMOs are:
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St Mary Magdalene Street, Caledonian Road and Edinburgh Road – 81 HMOs representing 50% of all housing
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Mafeking Road and Ewhurst Road – 67 HMOs representing 45% of all housing
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Coombe Road – 64 HMOs representing 37% of all housing
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St Leonard’s Road, St Martin’s Place, Fairlight Place – 59 HMOs representing 30% of all housing
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Baden Road and Carlyle Avenue – 54 HMOs representing 25% of all housing
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St Martin’s Street and St Paul’s Street – 50 HMOs representing 41% of all housing
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Southall Avenue – 46 HMOs, representing 33% of all housing
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Park Crescent Road – 45 HMOs, or 49% of all housing
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Medmerry Hill – 45 HMOs, representing 39% of all housing
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London Terrace and London Road – 44 HMOs, representing 15% of all housing
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 caused enormous, incalculable and irreparable damage to my life.
Mr Mead expects the figures to be much higher than shown and said he believes there are many more illegal unlicensed HMOs.
The council said HMOs provide flexible and affordable housing for students and residents.
However, he 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, scheduling requests will only be considered if all of the following criteria are met:
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Less than 20% of homes in the larger neighborhood are already used as HMOs
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The proposal does not lead to three or more HMOs immediately adjacent to each other
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The proposal does not involve sandwiching a non-HMO home between two HMOs where all three homes are immediately adjacent to each other.
Mr Mead said these measures, while welcome, are “too little, too late”.
Councilor David Gibson, who co-chairs the housing committee, said: “This city plan provides for better management of HMO supply.”
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