Guest Column: Is Derry the Bail-Hostel Capital of Northern Ireland?

A little known problem has appeared in Derry in recent years regarding what are often called ‘bail hostels’.

These are temporary accommodation spaces for individuals who the courts release on bail but who lack a permanent address where police can find them.

The State therefore has a responsibility to house them - and since Covid there has been a big rise in the number of private properties across NI being used for this purpose.

Whilst other forms of accommodation require planning permission and licenses (e.g student housing), no permission is required to run a bail hostel. In planning terms they fall under the classification of ‘Guest Houses’ (C2), which covers any form of accommodation where occupants stay for a limited period.

As a result there is no control over the number or location of bail properties here - resulting in a big increase in Derry’s city centre and other neighbourhoods.

Derry’s over-supply of bail accommodation has two basic causes. Firstly - Stormont pays big money to private landlords to house people on bail.

State-funded temporary accommodation is now NI’s most lucrative form of residential tenancy, providing a huge incentive for investors to get in on the game. The second reason is that Derry has the lowest house prices in NI, whilst the rent paid for temporary accommodation is standard.

This therefore creates a huge financial incentive for people to buy property in NI’s cheapest location to maximise the income they make from temporary accommodation.

As a result our city is facing an over-concentration of accommodation used solely or partly for people on bail (plus other temporary users).

Investors are actively buying properties here for that purpose, with a number of Bed and Breakfasts also converted into bail hostels.

It has got to the stage where a staggering 41% of the entire temporary accommodation budget for NI is being spent just in Derry. We have become the bail and temporary accommodation capital of Northern Ireland.

It should be made clear that those on bail deserve to be treated with dignity by the criminal justice system. But it would be remiss to not also acknowledge that issues can arise when a significant number of people on bail are housed in concentration.

These can often be individuals with complex needs and behavioural issues (incl. substance abuse), and a long history of trouble with the law.

Whilst on bail they are transplanted to Derry from elsewhere in NI, with seemingly little help from the authorities.

Left largely to their own devices alongside others on bail, it is no surprise that problems can arise. And there is evidence of this in areas where bail hostels are concentrated locally.

First came the announcement earlier this year that the number of physical assaults in Derry city centre is at a five year high – up over 60% to 583 in 2022/23.

Whilst blame for this cannot be placed entirely at bail hostels, assaults have in particular increased sharply over the last two years - coinciding with the appearance of a significant amount of bail accommodation. Last month an MLA revealed that there had been a 525% increase in expenditure on temporary and emergency accommodation in Derry over the last five years.

Again – not all of this will be down to bail housing, but evidence suggests a sizeable portion is.

And over the last two years residents and business owners located in the proximity of a number of bail hostels have complained about criminality and anti-social behaviour linked to the accommodation.

In some cases the problems have improved following meetings between residents, the property owners and elected representatives - but elsewhere in town issues persist.

A number of politicians in Derry have been made directly aware of problems with bail hostels over the last few years, which makes recent comments by a local councillor rather puzzling.

The councillor raised serious issues related to the occupants of properties in certain city centre streets - and correctly identified Derry as housing a high proportion of vulnerable people.

But instead of highlighting the role that bail accommodation contributes to this, she instead blamed it on HMO properties.

HMO’s – or ‘Houses of Multiple Occupation’ – are a regulated and licensed form of accommodation. Most HMO’s in Derry are used for student housing, and are located near Magee (though there are also other HMOs elsewhere housing individuals on benefit).

Every HMO is required to have a plan for dealing with anti-social behaviour ; its owner can lose their license if they fail to address problems ; and the fine for operating a HMO without a license is £5,000-£20,000.

None of these stipulations apply to temporary or bail accommodation.

The problem with pinpointing HMOs as the primary source of anti-social behaviour in parts of our city centre is that it stigmatises students - who don’t even live in the areas concerned - whilst ignoring the bigger issue regarding bail and temporary accommodation properties. It would be like correctly identifying a problem with dog-fouling on our streets, and then suggesting cats are somehow to blame for it.

Action is now required to address Derry’s role as NI’s location of choice for bail accommodation, and I would strongly urge the council to pursue three potential solutions.

Firstly – a new planning classification should be introduced specifically for bail and temporary housing. That would require any such properties to seek planning permission for ‘Change of Use’ – allowing their size, number and location to be controlled.

Secondly – an NI-wide licensing scheme should be introduced for temporary/bail accommodation (just like for HMO’s), including strict controls over anti-social behaviour.

Finally – the government department responsible for housing people on bail/temporary accommodation should be required to do so in a responsible manner, with limits on the number they can allocate to specific neighbourhoods/towns. Credible steps are required to bring Derry’s days as the bail-hostel capital of NI to an end, before the good work done to improve our city centre and other neighbourhoods starts to unravel.

Steve Bradley can be followed on Twitter at @Bradley_Steve