Episode 9 The Housing Enforcers

Just doesn't quite feel safe.

Everyone deserves a safe place to live...

Someone nicked your wheelchair?

..but with rents rising and demand increasing

it's getting harder and harder

to find a secure place to call home.

Passers-by have used these as toilets.

Out she pops, brandishing a bottle above her head.

I'm Matt Allwright and I'm back with the Housing Enforcers.

There are definitely fleas here, an infestation.

He was trying to make this into a home

and then it just all went horribly wrong.

I'm on the front line

with those fighting for the right to decent housing...

You can actually see the floorboards.

..as local councils and housing associations

battle problem properties and slum conditions...

-You're ready for this, are you?

-I don't know.

..as they deal with dodgy landlords...

So that's a dead rat.

What am I going to do?

..nightmare neighbours...

All hell broke loose and I could hear somebody screaming in agony.

..and everything in between...

-I think that's referred to as a bong.

-A bong? Right, OK.

-A makeshift bong.

-Yeah. A makeshift bong.

..to help those in need of a happy and healthy home.

If there's something strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call?

Today, I meet the tenant overwhelmed with her garden...

It has upset me. It's why I keep the blinds shut.

I don't like being able to see out of it.

..a seaside hoarder reaches crisis point...

I imagine this is quite a monumental task.

There may be some things that may be able to help you

sort through your possessions.

..the emotional impact of evictions hit home for housing officer Joe...

You try and leave the job with the job as much as you can but,

you know, I've got children myself.

I don't think anyone would want their kids to be made homeless.

..and a seriously ill mum wants to safeguard her son's future home.

I could be here today, I could be gone tomorrow.

That's, you know, what I face, but I'm a determined person.

You don't want your illness stopping you.

Finding a suitable place to call home for you and your family

has never been harder, especially for those on a restricted budget.

But low rent shouldn't mean your house doesn't live up to

the same basic standards as everyone else's.

Fortunately, there is a group of men and women

who are out on the front line battling on your behalf

against bad and dangerous living conditions.

They are The Housing Enforcers.

The work of a housing officer is as much about the tenants

as it is about bricks and mortar.

But sometimes those tenants need a helping hand,

or gentle nudge, to keep up the maintenance on their property.

In Southampton,

I'm working with housing association officer Stephen Key,

on the way to see a tenant whose home

might be in danger of becoming a little overgrown.

It's one of those where the garden

-is starting to make the house look small...

-Yeah.

-..really.

It's taking over a bit.

It looks as if it's not been managed correctly,

or it's become to the point where it isn't manageable for that person

to keep up with it and look after the garden properly.

So, it is the tenant's responsibility?

It is fully their responsibility.

And at what point do you say, "You've got to do it but,

-"is there any help we can give you?"

-Yeah.

It's more trying to help them sustain their tenancy

and sustain their property so it doesn't become overrun.

So it's a lot of different options we can look at

after we've met with the resident.

Hello.

Yvonne moved into this property ten years ago

and she's keen to show us,

back then, the garden looked very different.

But, over the years, the outdoor space seems to have taken on

a life of its own, leaving it unrecognisable and unusable.

It's a state of affairs that is clearly very painful for Yvonne.

I loved my garden. I loved working in it, sitting in it.

The kids playing.

I miss not being able to sit out here

and to watch it gradually get like this, it has upset me.

It's why I keep the blinds shut.

If I'm in the kitchen or dining area, I don't like to see out of it.

The blinds in the back room's always shut.

-I just don't like seeing it.

-OK.

Yvonne claims the neighbours' ash tree

has blown seeds onto her garden,

resulting in the jungle we see before us.

I've had this all cut down.

Time after time, I've cut this down, treated it with root killer.

There's brambles, and it just comes back so quickly

Looking at the pictures of how it was ten years ago,

I can't believe this is the same garden.

-It's pretty wild, isn't it?

-It is.

-So, as they were growing, did you realise...

-No.

-You didn't realise they were ever going to this...

-No.

I'd just given up.

In fact, it seems, the garden is in danger of taking over the property

and affecting the properties around it.

These two and all these round the edge,

where I had flower borders...

-Yeah.

-..have self seeded. So, that one twisted the shed that way.

There's one over there which twisted that way.

The whole lot collapsed and branches came down and took the roof down.

Is that looking over the back there, that back fence there?

Yvonne says ill health in recent years

has prevented her from tackling the problem.

But although she now lives alone, she does have two sons.

I'm wondering if they could help out.

-So, you've got family nearby, Yvonne?

-My son's in Winchester.

-Right.

-I've got another one in Eastleigh. And my dad's 87.

-Unfortunately, we do spend what time we can helping him out.

-Yeah.

What are you, ideally, hoping is going to happen next?

I'd love those trees to go. This one's the main problem.

This one produces the most.

I think because these are younger, they don't produce so much seed.

With so much on Yvonne's plate, it's not hard to see how things have got

out of control but it's clear her garden need some serious attention.

What's the chances of you being able to afford

someone to do this privately?

No way. No way. I mean, I barely get by each month, as it is.

It's not looking good for Yvonne.

The garden is a mess but will the housing association help,

or insist she sorts out herself?

This is totally out of control, isn't it?

It's the same resident for all of that time,

so she's watched it get to this state.

You've got to draw a line at some point

between personal responsibility

and the welfare of everybody else around it.

I don't know what's under there. There could be a car there,

for all we know. Look at that.

I think, there's possibly a sleeping princess,

about to be awakened by true love's kiss.

-Good luck with that, Steve.

-It's not in the job description.

We'll see how the housing association helps to tackle

Yvonne's less than secret garden a bit later on.

She's saying this is what has to go. This tree has to go.

She might be missing the point a little bit there.

The resident's responsibility is to look after their own garden

and that one just isn't.

Next, we're at the seaside.

Clacton on Sea is a classic British holiday resort

with sandy beaches, funfairs, and fish and chips.

But, behind closed doors, this place presents plenty of challenges

for housing offices Rob Goswell and Ian Kavanagh.

HMOs, or houses in multiple occupancy,

are properties that are shared

by a number of tenants in separate bedsits

and this street is full of them.

This is probably where we have our greatest concentration of HMOs.

There's one there. That is one. That's one. That's one.

There's another one there.

Another one on the end and another one around the corner.

That's just in this street alone.

With so many people concentrated in such a small area,

the council is aware that the actions of just one tenant

can have a big impact on the other residents.

They've come to this HMO

to investigate allegations that a tenant here, Jason,

may have a hoarding problem.

That could present a major health hazard

to those sharing the property,

which is obviously a concern for both Rob and Ian.

-Right. If we pop in, then...

-Right. Brilliant.

And it looks like their fears are justified.

The flat is crammed floor-to-ceiling.

It's hoarding on a massive scale.

Jason claims the place was trashed while he was in hospital

but you wonder if there's a larger, underlying problem here.

It can't be easy to live like this

and it is clearly having an emotional effect.

I'm here just doing my job. Yeah. That's fine.

-I can understand your agitation, sir. Yeah.

-Coming back to this.

It's clear the hoarding needs to be addressed but with the tenant

in such a volatile state, Rob and Ian will have to tread carefully.

You're going to try and clean it up? OK, sir.

So, I appreciate you've just come back.

What we may well do is pop back, maybe in a couple of weeks,

make sure everything's fine.

I appreciate you're in complete disorder at the moment.

It is a difficult situation.

Rob and Ian must balance the needs of the other tenants,

while ensuring that Jason's case is sensitively handled.

I think it's important that we do try and work the best we can

with him without having to go down the enforcement route

because that's not going to help anyone.

We still have to be mindful, though,

that there are other people living in that block.

That's why I'm going to give him a week.

Enough time to try and get himself in order.

When I come back in a week's time,

I'm hoping that he's made some sort of impact on the rubbish.

If not, then I'll have to consider my options,

looking at enforcement, various other things.

With Jason in such a fragile state,

eviction will be the very last resort,

but it is a situation Rob and Ian can't ignore.

Later, I'll be joining the boys to check on Jason's progress.

What's it like for you living here? The way it is at the moment?

It's OK at the moment. I can move in here now.

-You couldn't move here the other week.

-Yeah.

I couldn't even walk through here.

There was stuff everywhere.

Although the role of a housing officer is usually

to get people into a home,

unfortunately, sometimes they have no option

but to try and remove a tenant.

Evictions are always a last resort.

It's never a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

But, with the demand for properties on the rise, it's vital

the housing teams get the home back as quickly as possible.

Sometimes, that's easier said than done.

In Stroud, housing officer Joe Phillips

has a busy day ahead of him,

inspecting not one but five properties

whose tenants have recently been evicted.

The fact that we've got five is something I've never seen before.

To give you an example of how unlikely that is,

we aim to do fewer than ten evictions a year.

With the rising rents and benefit cuts,

the number of evictions in England and Wales

reached a record high of 42,000 last year alone.

With a long list of tenants waiting for homes, time is of the essence

but Joe doesn't look forward to days like these.

An eviction day is always a failure, in our eyes,

because, our idea, when we're doing housing,

we're trying to give people homes to live in,

not take them away from them.

So, being here today is very disappointing.

It's going to be quite sad, as well, that someone's lost their home.

Yeah. Not a good day.

Councils will always try to find a way to keep people in their homes.

But, sadly, sometimes moving them on is unavoidable.

The tenants of this property owed nearly £4,000 in rent arrears

but, despite repeated efforts to find a solution,

the tenants never made any payments

and have disappeared off the council's radar.

Obviously, got a few items they didn't want to take with them

that have been left outside the back door.

Here we are. We've got the kitchen here. Looks to be quite clean.

One of our newer kitchens, as well, which is nice to see.

Pretty strange scenario, actually.

The front room looks pretty well decorated and looked after.

It's one of those situations that's strange.

That someone has obviously made this place their home

and then they decided not to engage with us and try

and sort out what's going on to keep it, really.

When the rent isn't being paid, the council will try to work out

a payment plan that's affordable for the resident.

But, sometimes, the debt just keeps mounting.

So, the arrears were just shy of £4,000 at this property,

which is a huge amount of money to owe.

Properties, like this, we rent

anywhere between £90 and £100 per week.

So, if you think about that,

that's a good few weeks they are behind on their rent.

Yeah. Sad, really.

This may have been a happy family home once

but, with so many people desperately in need somewhere to live,

the council still needs to turn it around as quickly as possible.

Nobody likes an empty house. This could be used for a home.

We've got a huge waiting list of tenants wanting properties.

More importantly, wanting to pay their rent to stay

in a property and make somewhere their home.

So, hopefully, this place, at the moment,

it's a bit of a sad note

where somebody's obviously had to lose their home

but, hopefully, we'll turn it into a positive

just a little way down the line.

On to the next property.

This is not a normal day by any means.

It's quite a lot to get done in one day.

So, yeah, it's going to be a long day.

The next one is one that we've already got keys for, actually.

We gained entry to protect the property damage

and found that the property was empty.

Changed the locks, left a notice on the door,

saying, "Could the tenant please contact us to get his keys?"

And he hasn't contacted us.

So, I'm guessing that he's not going to be here today.

It's Joe's job to try and get this abandoned property back on track

and ready for a new set of tenants.

Although he's got other occupants to contend with first.

Just having some flea spray put on my shoes and trousers.

There were fleas in this property when we last were in here.

We've had a flea bomb done, however, just extra precaution.

Like to keep ourselves flea-free.

And it looks like the human occupant

left this property in a bit of a hurry.

Obviously, a lot of possessions left.

I'm not sure what the circumstances are that someone would leave

a place with all their belongings.

I'm guessing the items they've left, they can't be interested in,

it does look like someone's been back here for a while.

Joe's theory is soon confirmed.

It's quite mouldy here. Not very nice at all.

There is a strong smell of damp and you can notice it

as soon as you come in the property.

The property just smells damp.

And no vent in the walls to stop that from causing you problems.

Surprisingly, he left after doing his washing-up, though.

It appears the tenant's brief clean-up didn't carry on upstairs.

Ooh, wow. OK. Lots of items left.

A drink that's been left for some time,

by the looks of the organisms growing on top of it.

Obviously, keen to smoke while in bed.

Yeah. With a nice little box saying "Legalise".

I can only imagine what he wants us to legalise.

Anyone who gets one of these houses is someone who has had

a genuine housing need, at some point.

You think that they'd understand the frustration of not being able

to get a house and then, by extending that problem

by not looking after the place they get given,

yeah, it is frustrating.

It is a sad situation.

You imagine things must have been pretty desperate

for someone to leave so many personal belongings behind.

Unfortunately, it now falls to the council to get rid of it all

and that doesn't come cheap.

There is a big cost here for clearing this sort of thing.

Most of it, we will just dump it, it will go into landfill,

the majority of it, which is really sad.

Obviously, we try to be a green council

who's keen on the environment and recycling, things like that.

So, the fact that we're going to have to put all this in landfill

is against our principles as a council,

let alone how frustrating it is as a housing officer

trying to get people in new properties.

You want to have the properties clear,

so you can turn them around as quickly as possible.

This just adds a time element to it that we just don't want.

Later, an evicted family's home gives Joe pause for thought.

I shudder to think what, you know,

the child whose house this is will be thinking

when they are told they can't come back home.

Yeah. It's pretty horrible.

Earlier, in Clacton in Essex,

we saw housing officers Rob and Ian

deal with tenant Jason whose hoarding had reached crisis point.

He was given a week to clean up his act.

Now, I'm joining the boys to check on his progress.

But when we arrive at the property...

Hello, sir. I popped over last week. Tendring Council.

DOG BARKS

-Hello, dog.

-Hello, dog.

..it appears Jason's made little impact on this massive mess.

This is supposed to be an improvement

but I'm still shocked to see it in this condition.

What's it like for you living here the way it is at the moment?

It's OK at the moment. I can move in here now.

-You couldn't move in here the other week.

-Yeah.

I couldn't even walk through here.

There was stuff everywhere.

I came back here one day, and all my suitcases,

sugar all over the floor, everything.

Popcorn, crisps, chucked everywhere.

-Do you know what you've got in there?

-Yes.

-You know what it is you got?

-Yeah.

I generally know every screw in the book, mate.

Despite his claims to have cleared up,

I'm finding it hard to imagine how anyone can live like this.

But, rather than threaten eviction,

Rob's keen to offer help.

I imagine this is quite a monumental task.

There may be some things that might be able to help you

sort through your possessions.

I'd rather work with you to try and clear all your stuff.

-Do you think you'd do better if it was clean?

-I'm going to do it.

One less thing to worry about.

It's what I'm doing at the moment.

I'll give you some time to carry on with this.

I know you're soldiering on with this.

Meanwhile, I'll look for ways I can try and see

anything that can support you and help you.

OK, Jason, listen, thanks for letting us in.

-Thanks for talking to us.

-Thank you.

-It's nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

-Hope you get yourself sorted out.

So, that's Jason's place, which I hadn't seen before,

and, apparently, we're making some progress,

erm, but it's slow.

And, yes, there are lots of things standing in the way

of getting that room the way it should be.

Erm, yeah.

Yeah.

Jason's hoarding is clearly just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm concerned he'll struggle to straighten things out.

If they're going to tackle the hoarding,

it looks like Rob and Ian may need to start with Jason himself.

It felt like he really needed help if he was going to,

long-term, hold on to that property, I felt.

From our perspective, enforcement action's not going to work here.

It really has left us with only really one option

which is try to find ways to support him and his, sort of, needs

because it's clear there that he needed help.

But we will try and push as best as we can

to get him the support he needs.

Well, since Rob and Ian's last visit to the property,

the tenant has now been referred to a local support organisation.

So, hopefully, it's a big step on the road to recovery.

He's also kept his word and cleared the vast majority of the clutter

in his flat, which is great news for him and for his neighbours.

Defending our right to a safe place to live

is the job of housing officers right across the UK.

You've done a great thing. You've done a superb thing.

It's like a red rag to a bull, isn't it? Doing something like that.

I'm working alongside the men and women that do exactly that...

There's a window open there as well.

That's not so bad. Seen worse.

..hitting the streets,

finding out what's happening on the front line...

The smell round here is... is really strong.

..as we make sure a house is a fit place to call a home.

-So you've got a choice.

-Yeah. Tomahawk of some sort, yeah.

Choice of the Tomahawk... or the bayonet.

So that's a parting shot, basically, is it, from the tenant?

Back in Hampshire, I'm with a team from Hyde Housing Association,

who are trying to help Yvonne and her ever expanding garden.

I miss not being able to sit out here.

And to watch it gradually get like this, it's... It has upset me.

The past ten years have seen it growing out of control,

with the finger of blame pointed at seeds from the neighbours' trees.

But estate services supervisor Neil isn't keen to rush to judgment.

The trees don't get that big instantly.

There's an awful lot of trees in there that have been growing

there for ten years or more.

When they were really, really small,

they could easily have just been literally pulled out.

Now they do need a lot of work.

But, I'm sorry, it just says to me a history of neglect, rather.

It is a bit difficult to get your head round

because it's not like Jack And The Beanstalk.

And so you're watching this process happening.

At some point, you've got to let somebody know,

do something about it.

Because it's now expensive.

It looks expensive, what's going to have to take place there.

Extremely, yes.

Hyde is responsible for providing a home.

We're a landlord.

We're not some garden company that can go and provide

that kind of service.

To confirm that the neighbour definitely isn't to blame,

Neil wants to take a look at their garden.

Along here, we've got a whole row of ash trees.

-And if I was to take that one out...

-Yeah.

..it wouldn't make a heap of the difference

to the whole scheme of things.

The wind, the prevailing wind is from the south west,

which is over there.

So, actually, the seeds off of this tree probably land in that garden.

-And the ones down there...

-Yeah.

-..land in hers.

Our resident, then, I mean,

because she's saying this is the source of the problem,

and she's saying this is what has to go, this tree has to go.

She might be missing the point a little bit there, do you think?

-Completely, I'm afraid, yes.

-Right, right.

The residents' responsibility is to look after their own garden,

and that one just isn't.

Let's go.

It's funny, isn't it? You have to make a judgment.

Somewhere along the line, you have to make a judgment

about people and their...deservingness?

It's not the right word, but their ability to help themselves.

Yeah, you don't want to hand-feed the residents.

You want to be able to support them, to maintain their properties.

But you don't want to do all the work for them.

-Yeah. Otherwise you end up coming back a lot.

-Yeah.

Whatever Yvonne's reasons for not looking after the garden,

it's clear now is the time to sort it out before it gets any worse.

Fortunately, Steve's on hand to help find a way forward.

-So, next step?

-We'll go back to the office.

I'll speak to my managers, show them the photos,

and obviously the support that the resident might need.

It's going to be then looking at local authorities, charities,

any free schemes that we might be able to get to help the resident.

-Good luck with that.

-Thank you.

A few weeks later, and Steve has managed to get some help

from a local charity to clear Yvonne's garden.

Now he's heading back to inspect what's been done.

Hopefully he's done enough so that this resident can

just maintain it on a weekly, monthly basis,

so that we wouldn't have to look at taking any action against her,

or look at putting sanctions in place to make sure that

she can maintain it in the future.

Ten years of neglect had left Yvonne's back garden

in a shocking state

and she was in danger of putting her tenancy at risk.

But with the housing association's help,

what was an overgrown jungle of trees, grass and brambles,

well, now actually looks like a garden.

It looks...

a million times better than it was before.

The trees that had grown up in her flower beds have now gone,

along with all that thick grass.

This whole centrepiece was just covered in dead tree branches.

You couldn't walk through here

without the grass being maybe a foot high

and it was all the way around.

Really pleased with how it's looking now.

And now it's just making sure that she can maintain it.

For the resident, as she lives alone,

it is going to be a lot more manageable for her.

She just have to be very proactive and make sure she comes out here

frequently and then starts to treat the trees,

or chop them down, or have help from someone to help her get rid of it.

And then she can bring the garden back to how it was before.

There's still a bit of work to do

but, thanks to the housing association,

hopefully Yvonne can now start to enjoy her garden once again.

Back in Stroud, housing officer Joe Phillips is having a busy day

inspecting recently evicted properties.

Lots of items left.

Quite a lot in boxes here.

A drink that's been left for some time,

by the looks of the organisms growing on top of it.

The council's usual tally is ten evictions a year

but now, with rising rents and benefit cuts,

Joe finds himself having to oversee five in just one day.

Just going in here to have a look around.

Looks like it's a bit of a mess straightaway.

So just going in there to have a look and assess the damage,

see what the property's like, and then crack on.

The tenant of this property stopped communicating with the council

after their rent arrears got out of hand.

Although the eviction order was served today,

Joe thinks the place may have been abandoned some time ago.

Ooh, this place is a bit of a mess.

Yeah, looks like whoever was here had their last couple of parties

and then decided to give it up.

So this is probably one of the worse ends of the spectrum,

where people look like they've just...

used it as a doss house for a while, left fag ends and mouldy food out,

beer cans,

and then they probably knew they weren't going to be coming back,

so they've just ditched it and left it as it is.

Not bothered to even try and tidy it up.

The sad thing is, this actually looks like it would have been

quite a newly done property.

It's a shame that someone's decided to just treat it like this.

It's not what we want at all, when we let our properties out.

When the council repossess a property,

the locks are changed so that it's secure for the next tenant.

But it's the former resident that Joe is still concerned about.

Can see quite a bit post.

A lot of post on the floor would indicate it's been a long time

since someone was last interested in either opening post

or coming to the property to collect it.

Hmm.

So going into what they must have used as their bedroom.

Food left out.

An ashtray that's full underneath the bed.

Ashtray on the bed.

Money, beer cans.

It looks like it's just sort of been left in a bit of a rush,

or a sort of a, "Oh, I've had enough of this place",

and then just never come back.

Quite bizarre.

And there's another clue that catches Joe's eye.

Arrears letter I've just picked up, dated the 8th February,

with arrears of £8.44...

..which obviously isn't what we've come here today about.

Now they owe in the region of £2,000.

So my guess is that's probably when they stopped paying their rent.

Once a tenant abandons their property,

it's often difficult for housing officers to find out

where they've moved on to, and check if they have a safe place to live.

You do worry, especially when you don't know where they've gone,

because you wonder about their safety to some extent.

Yeah, it's hard not having closure for us when we're ending

someone's tenancy, knowing that they are all right and they are safe.

There's no rest for Joe today.

He has to move straight on to the next evicted property.

I'm not really sure what to expect with this one, actually.

This one we've had no contact with...

not seen the tenant, no rent payments coming in.

It's a flat, so...

I don't know. We'll go in and see.

He doesn't have to look hard to see that this is a family home,

and that raises a lot of troubling questions.

Everything's still here.

There's lots of children's toys and effects around.

Loads of kids' stuff.

The person who lives here has obviously...

spent a lot of time and effort making sure their children are happy

with the amount of items that they've purchased for them,

the amount of photos they've got up as well.

It sort of just...

hammers it home a bit more, actually.

You never like evicting families,

especially when a family is obviously still using this

as a home right up until the day of the eviction.

I shudder to think what the child whose house this is will be thinking

when they're told they can't come back home.

Yeah, it's pretty horrible.

This is what we don't like walking into, ever.

It's a really curious situation.

Almost as though they've just popped out.

It's scenes like this that highlight the real impact

an eviction can have.

You try and leave the job with the job as much as you can.

You know, I've got children myself

and I wouldn't like any of my kids to go through this sort of thing.

I don't think anyone would want their kids to be made homeless

and have to find a new home...

just forced upon them.

Yeah, not very nice at all.

Later on, Joe discovers this family flat is still occupied.

Puddy cat?

Very growly. I think he's just scared.

Finding secure accommodation for tenants with complex needs

can be hard enough for housing officers at the best of times.

But family situations can change drastically

and to feel secure in your own home,

you need to know what the future holds.

In Wiltshire, White Horse Housing Association Officer

Belinda Eastland has a tenant

who's suffering from a serious illness.

She fears her son won't have a stable, secure roof over his head

if the worst happens.

This particular tenant today is worried about her son,

and what will happen to him,

because she's not well,

and if anything were to happen to her, could he stay in the property?

It's a difficult situation made more complex

because, although the son is 26,

he has bipolar disorder and learning difficulties.

There are so many different sensitivities there

-about what's going to happen to this family...

-Yes.

..you know, in the maybe short to medium term.

And it's all big stuff.

It's either, you know, somebody coming, possibly,

to the end of their life

and somebody losing their home,

-and all of these things happening at the same time.

-Yes.

Despite her illness, tenant Dee's main priority is her son, Shakir.

Hello, there. I'm Belinda. Is Mum here?

Dee's happy to discuss her worries

while Shakir keeps busy in the garden.

You're preparing for quite an uncertain future yourself.

Do you really know how the next few years are going to pan out?

I could be here today, I could be gone tomorrow.

That is, you know, what I face. But I'm a determined person.

You don't let illness stop you.

So, practically, then, what are the kind of challenges

that you and Shakir face together every day?

Like, he's just had a 11-day crisis.

What happens during a crisis, then, for Shakir?

He can be from up here, and come down from nought to zero

just like that.

He's...a big unit.

THEY LAUGH He's a bodybuilder.

-Yeah.

-And, you know, with bipolar,

we're talking about episodes where he can be very distressed,

and physically aggressive? Does that come into it as well?

Not so much aggressive. But when you're going through a crisis

or someone's stressed out or someone's depressed,

they're going to say things they don't mean.

But it's a cry out for help.

It's clearly a huge worry for Dee.

She wants the best for Shakir, and she's hoping Belinda

can give her the reassurance she so desperately needs.

So you were particularly worried about if anything happened to you,

cos I know you're not in good health,

-and you explained to me a bit about that.

-Yeah.

-But it's just really that your tenancy started here in 2004.

-Yeah.

-I've got a copy of that tenancy agreement for you...

-Yeah.

..just in case you haven't still got one.

Because this is key to the succession rights.

While they have a chat about the tenancy, I take the opportunity

to do a bit of serious male bonding with fitness fanatic Shakir.

-This truly is the gun show.

-Yeah.

-Isn't it?

-Yeah.

That is just ridiculous. HE LAUGHS

Oh, my God. I can just about...

HE STRAINS

How much is there?

About...29.5 kilos.

My God! Yeah.

(Shakir.)

HE GROANS

Shakir, that's all you now. It's not me at all.

It's just you pushing it up in the air.

THEY LAUGH

Outwardly, Shakir might look like he can take care of himself

but, given his own health challenges, it's easy to see why

Dee needs to know he'll be able to keep a stable and familiar roof

over his head in the future.

How has it been living here for you?

Good, yeah. Uh...

You mum was saying the neighbours are really cool with you?

They are, yeah.

And... Cos I know you have some bad times, don't you...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..as well, with your illness?

Yeah.

And then, they're there for you? They kind of understand?

They do, yeah.

What do you think would happen if you had to move from this place?

Um...I don't think it would be as good,

-to be honest.

-Yeah.

I like this place, yeah.

It's time for mum Dee

to find out whether Shakir will be able to stay here.

Basically, he must have stayed here -

lived here as his permanent home -

for the 12 months preceding anything happening to you,

and he would agree to abide by the rules of that tenancy.

As long as he meets all that criteria,

then he will succeed to the tenancy.

He can have the tenancy of this property.

OK?

So does that put your mind at rest?

At least it puts me more in the picture.

I think he likes it being our house because of the garden,

and he knows all the neighbours.

-And he grew up here, really...

-Exactly.

-..since junior school.

-Yeah.

It must be a huge relief.

Dee's biggest fear has been Shakir having to deal with losing his mum

and the only real home he has ever known at the same time.

And I get to give him the good news.

Today...

Belinda came round to say that,

you know, kind of, your future in this house is secure now.

Oh, cool.

-You know, if anything happens to your mum...

-Yeah.

-..God forbid,

then the tenancy will pass to you.

-Yeah.

-So how do you feel about that?

-Really happy, yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-I think you just keep doing what you're doing.

-Yeah.

-It's looking good.

-Thank you. Yeah.

-And I wish you the best of luck with it.

-Well, thank you, yeah.

-OK. Lovely to meet you, Shakir.

-Nice to meet you, too.

With both mother and son facing up to significant health challenges,

it's good to know the worry of staying in the house

is no longer an issue.

So tell me, what difference does it make now knowing

that Shakir is safe, regardless what happens next?

Big relief. The fact that, if anything happens to me,

at least I know he's here and that's fine.

This isn't the end of Dee's challenges.

But hopefully Belinda's visit today means that

she has one less very important thing to worry about.

-That was nice to give good news, wasn't it?

-It was, yes.

-And it was really well received as well.

-Yeah.

Obviously, when the time comes, there will be questions about

who's going to be caring for him in the property?

Who's going to be helping him manage the tenancy?

But, you know, that's something that we can sort out at the time.

At least now they've got a long-term vision of him being safe

and secure in that property if anything happens to her.

-Nice job for you today?

-Brilliant job.

Yeah, we have good days like that.

Back in Stroud, housing officer Joe has been inspecting

properties whose tenants have recently been evicted.

The person who lives here has obviously spent a lot of time

and effort making sure their children are happy,

with the amount of items they've purchased for them.

The amount of photos they've got up as well.

It all just...

hammers it home a bit more, actually.

The family who lived in this flat may have gone,

but it seems their cat doesn't want to leave.

We have pets left in properties reasonably often, actually.

More often than you might think.

It tends to be people's last priority.

And with cats being quite territorial,

the cat might have gone out of the house when the people were

trying to leave and not been back in the house until later on.

Joe has called in Alex and Josie from the animal welfare team

to help remove the cat and take it safely into care.

Sadly, it is... There is no bulb.

So it's going to be pretty dark finding the cat.

Is it friendly or is it going to bolt?

It's going to bolt...or attack you.

THEY LAUGH

Easy does it, then.

Is there a light in here at all?

There is no light in there.

There was a torch on the desk in there, though.

Don't know if it works.

Puddy cat?

SHE MAKES KISSING SOUNDS

No. Very growly. I think he's just scared.

There's obviously been a lot of banging and clattering.

It doesn't help it's pitch-black in there.

There's curtains in there, isn't there? Just get the curtains open.

That's going to be the other problem -

there's an awful lot of stuff in here.

If he just goes to ground...

Oh, careful.

Are you all right if I go and get the gauntlets and the grasper?

-Yeah.

-Are you sure?

Yeah. Unless it's a man-eater.

With the cat not coming quietly, it's time for special measures.

We don't want to get bitten,

so we have the cat grasper,

and then we have gauntlets as well

because cat bites are very nasty,

nastier than dog bites a lot of the time.

He doesn't like me.

ALEX LAUGHS

Armed with their protective gear,

Alex and Josie make their move.

Be careful.

But this resident is not keen on being evicted.

Got... Oh, hello!

-He does not want to be caught.

-He's very fast.

And very fast.

-Plan B?

-Plan B - vets, sedative.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK.

It seems the cat has had the last laugh.

He managed to get Josie through the gloves.

She's got a cut on her finger.

Because the cat was quite fiery because of all the noise

that's been going on, he wasn't happy.

He was contained in one room and he didn't like being cornered.

So I couldn't get a hold of him.

There's a lot of stuff in there, he just kept going into hiding.

And I did have big, thick gauntlets on,

and, even through that, it was able to scratch me.

Happened very quickly, but I felt it!

THEY LAUGH

I think I'll live to fight another day.

The rescue attempt may not have been successful,

but the team will be back tomorrow with another plan.

We've left the cat tonight.

We've not left it any food tonight, we just left it with water,

so that we want it to be hungry tomorrow morning when we come back.

-Yeah.

-And then, we'll put sedative in the food tomorrow morning.

We'll hang around for the sedative to take effect,

and then we'll remove the cat then.

In a meantime, what we'll do is try getting hold of the tenants,

because obviously that's the ideal solution,

if the tenant can come back and sort her own cat out.

It's less stressful on the cat,

and it's at the least cost to the council then as well.

With a strategy in place for the cat,

Joe's long day is finally over.

I think the most I've ever done in a day is two evictions.

So this is a really extraordinary day in that regard.

Pretty emotive day as well.

Obviously, ending people's tenancies and kicking them out their houses

is never going to be an enjoyable day.

So it takes a toll on you a bit.

Well, that was clearly a long and exhausting day for Joe.

But in the end, it didn't all turn out to be bad news.

In a rare turn of events, the tenants of the final property

were allowed to return to their house

after their rent arrears were cleared in full.

So the next day, they were back as new tenants in the same property.

Great news for the family, the council,

and I would imagine the cat's pretty relieved, too.

Well, as we've just seen, being a housing officer

means a daily dose of tough choices and difficult decisions.

But it's all in a day's work for the men and women

fighting to ensure we can enjoy a safe place to call home.

That's it for today but join me again next time,

when I'll be back on the front line with the Housing Enforcers.