Episode 3 Neighbourhood Watched

An estimated one in six people in Britain live in social housing.

And in the current economic climate,

the waiting lists are growing every week.

For every person you make happy,

there's probably three or four times as many who are disappointed.

-Britain's housing officers are on the front line.

-Jeanette, can you let me in?

It's just like nothing like you've ever smelled before.

They deal with over 11 million tenants day in, day out.

-Oh, I don't believe you've let him out.

-Most are good tenants,

but a few risk everything with their antisocial behaviour.

His tenancy is on a knife edge.

If they want to take it, they'll have to take it with me on it.

Eviction is the last thing that we want to do.

And we've got to do it for the sake of the community.

Every week there's a different set of problems.

MUSIC BLARES

Bloody ridiculous, isn't it? I mean, nobody can go to sleep with this noise, can they?

I can't stand him any more.

Either he goes or I go.

She arrived in a taxi with the black bags, I just said to her,

"We've only got one bedroom, it's going to be a bit tight."

My heart goes out for people like that,

cos you know they're in genuine need of houses.

Quite shocked, really.

Our contractors had advised us that it was bad in there,

but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was.

Have you seen the rubbish that's in there?

Rice pudding, February 1999. Before the millennium.

Three million Britons are estimated to suffer noise nuisance from their neighbours,

but only a third of those ever confront the perpetrators.

MUSIC BLARES: "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga

In Stalybridge, east of Manchester,

one 48-year-old tenant won't stop partying.

# Baby, I was born this way... #

MUSIC STOPS

Stephen has been referred to tenancy enforcement officer Ivan Wright

after a series of interventions have failed to curb his behaviour.

He's had a written warning the back end of 2010,

he had a warning the back end of last year in September

and he's also had a warning this February.

So I'm going today to see what he's got to say

about these other incidences,

but ultimately he will be looking at further tenancy action.

Stephen, a former painter and decorator,

lives in this low-rise block.

Ivan has arranged to confront him with police officer Mike Devine.

Stephen? Can you open up?

All right?

-It's all right to sit down, there's no needles or anything.

-All right.

My job is tenancy enforcement.

Right, I work for the tenancy support services.

You've now had three warning letters since your tenancy commenced.

As a result of that, we've then had further complaints, yeah?

So that's why I'm here, that's why I'm involved and that's my main job.

They complain... They complain when I'm not here.

-How can I make noise when I'm not here?

-OK.

So when you've had a few, do you usually put on loud music?

I put it on as quiet as I can.

Do you want to try it now?

-So what number? Is it on numbers?

-It comes on, on 50, yeah?

-50?

-Yeah, well...

-And what number do you normally play it at?

50, because that's...

-MUSIC BLARES

-That's obviously too loud, isn't it?

Yes, yes, well, I know that. But I like to hear the words.

Well, we can't allow you to continue to annoy your neighbours.

I know, well, I don't want to continue.

Cos I've got a responsibility for everybody else here as well.

I know that, yeah. But I am trying me best.

Stephen has lots of friends and his door is always open.

Come in a minute cos I want to speak to you anyway.

His tenancy is on a knife edge,

if he continues to get complaints from all the other neighbours

about people coming and going, down the line he could be evicted.

-That's why I don't...

-What you and all his other mates need to know is exactly that.

I have said it to him as well, ain't I?

I have sat him down and told him, you know?

-All right, just remember what I've said, all right?

-No music. Have a quiet drink.

And clean this gaff up, I've told you, as well.

Thank you. It is actually tidier than the last time.

I'm 48. I'm a free spirit,

I just party 24/7.

If we continue to get complaints

about his loud music and disorder at the property

then he's not going to keep his tenancy for very long.

Each week in England, there are at least 1,500 new applications

for social housing and each one is individually approved.

In Ashton-under-Lyne, one housing association

has started a system of home visits for new applicants.

Rita Ward is checking on a family claiming severe overcrowding.

A give away is if the children's things are there

cos if you've got two children, you've got a lot of clutter

and a lot of things to take with you,

and also if she's got any correspondence going there,

bank statements, documents like that to say if she's registered there.

Vicky and her two children have told the housing association

they are living with her mum and dad

in their privately rented one-bed flat.

Before we start filling out the form,

could you explain, like, a bit of your circumstances

and we can take it from there? How you ended up here?

Yeah, I was living with my partner,

we split up and I had nowhere else to go so I had to come here.

Rita needs to assess whether Vicky and her children

are in fact staying with her parents, Brian and Joan.

What I'm here to do, is we come out and do a home visit.

Now, this is a new thing, it's not been going that long,

and it's to check that people,

when they say that they're in the situation that they're in,

we've got to make sure, you know, we verify the points.

It's just for yourself and your son and daughter, isn't it, for rehousing?

So it's just got one bedroom in this property.

-So where do you sleep? Is it...?

-On the floor, on an air bed.

Right-o, have you got the... where the airbed is, cos what I do,

I've got a camera and what I do I take pictures,

and I take it all back and this'll be saved on your file, Vicky.

-So this where your mum and dad sleep?

-Yeah.

Do you want me to get them both out? Me daughter's got the single one

-and then me and me little boy share the double.

-Aw.

-Aw, look!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Got no more.

-Got no more?

So all this, is this all your clothing and the kids' stuff

and stuff like that, cos that all helps when I take it back.

This is the bathroom.

-Is this your bedding?

-That's me bedding, yeah.

-CAMERA CLICKS

-Right, that's smashing.

You climb back on there, sweetheart.

-Well, it's nice to meet you.

-You, too.

-All right then. See you now.

-See ya.

You knew straight away when you walked in.

You kind of, like, know.

As soon as you see the amount of like the children's clothes there,

there was toys there. Like, she had the television there.

You, there's certain things you look out for

and you can spot when you walk in. She couldn't have set that up.

Especially the little boy, when he pulled the airbeds out

from under the grandparent's double bed.

You know for a fact, you know, they were genuine...

and my heart goes out for people like that,

cos you know they're in genuine need of houses coming back.

Now, with any doubts removed,

the household are officially classed as overcrowded.

Leyton, sit down, now.

Vicky, three-year-old Leyton,

12-year-old Sasha, grandma and grandpa

all share the open-plan one-bed flat.

She arrived in a taxi with the black bags and that was it.

We moved her in and, well, we just thought,

"We've only got one bedroom, it's going to be a bit tight."

-Right, you're going to get your covers, Leyton.

-No.

-No.

-Come and help mummy get your covers.

-No, I'm not going.

You are, it's bedtime.

It's been a struggle, but...

hopefully...

she will find somewhere, you know?

-You do your homework now?

-Yeah.

Grandpa Brian has been recovering from an operation.

'Me dad's not long been out of hospital having a tumour removed,'

so I didn't want to be in this situation

cos I don't want to stress him out any more than what he already was.

I mean, he's got to go back in January to have it checked again

to make sure it's not come back. But if it did,

I'd feel like it was me to blame.

And for the last five weeks,

Sasha has been doing her homework amongst the chaos.

It's just dead crowded so I'm trying to, like...

And I keep getting headaches so I can't do as much as I want to,

but like if I was in my room on me own, I'd be able to get higher level

because I could concentrate more,

and then I'd be able to do a lot more,

but I can't help that, so I just try me hardest.

Come on, sweet.

In the evening, no-one can settle until Leyton is asleep.

And then the beds can be inflated.

Over in Stalybridge, it's 10:30 in the morning

and Stephen's been shopping.

Good excuse, that. I can go quicker backwards. Come on.

DOG BARKS

It's the cheapest cider on the market, I think,

and it's never seen an apple, it's all chemicals.

The lyrics to this... Listen to this. MUSIC BLARES

I'll turn it up slightly.

You can't listen to this one quietly, it has to be...

VOLUME INCREASES

50, 50.

Directly above Stephen, in one of the other 12 flats,

is 70-year-old Tom, who's suffered 18 months of Stephen's partying.

BASS RUMBLES

Type of music at the moment is bass drums.

I would say a type of music that is consistent with the Zumba dancing,

as they call it, and this, at the present moment,

does actually sound quite loud and it's now ten minutes to 11.

If you're subjected day after day after day to anti-social behaviour,

especially if it's in the form of noise,

it really, really can drive people to distraction.

It can affect their health. They'll lose sleep, they become stressed.

If it's continuing, continuing, continuing,

I've known people actually try to take their own lives

because they can't stand it any more,

so, for me, that is very, very serious.

In cases of persistent anti-social behaviour, the housing association

-have the authority to covertly gather evidence.

-Simon, you OK?

-'Yes, OK.'

-Right, thanks.

This morning, Ivan is installing noise-monitoring equipment in Tom's flat.

It'll hear what you're doing, obviously,

but we'll only play back what you instruct us to play back,

so if you say there's an incident at ten o'clock on Monday, for instance,

then we'll record that incident.

This equipment...

..takes the onus off the victims, if you like, off the witnesses,

because it's not an easy thing to do, giving evidence,

and sometimes there's a necessity to attend court and things like that.

To have noise recordings, it just kind of negates that.

If you... If you have any issues, then let me know anyway,

-but, hopefully, fingers crossed...

-Fine, yes.

..it's done the trick and we'll see.

Take care, bye now.

As Ivan leaves, he bumps into Stephen.

I've let a lad move in with me, he's homeless. And he's been in t'army.

Not only are his mates coming and going,

but he's now moved in a new lodger.

-And how do you know him?

-I met him in Stalybridge and he took me for a pint, really nice lad.

I think he's got issues, like, but don't we all?

Do you think that's very wise, considering what position you're in?

He seems all right and it's all shipshape and Bristol fashion.

Did you get the caution I sent through in the post?

The letter to say anything, change of circumstances...? Yeah.

It'll be, like, legal action next.

You've got to be more than careful now

cos I don't want to end up evicting you. But that's what'll happen.

I don't want to end up on streets again. I know this.

If I hadn't have been in, it wouldn't have happened.

Cos you can't afford to have any complaints now.

Well, I've been doing... I've been making precautions.

I'm a good boy now, I'm trying to be.

It's about time - I'm 48.

-About time I pulled me finger out, isn't it?

-It is.

See's you in a bit, yeah?

Stephen's new lodger, Col,

joins the growing circle of friends who congregate in his flat.

Bumped into him in the centre, he said, "What you up to, Col?"

I said, "I don't know where to go. That's what I'm up to."

He says, "Here, come stay with us and all this lot,"

so, yesterday, I moved here and here I am.

I've still got people here, but...

What on Earth is that supposed to be all about?

Like a dog's back leg, but it's straight, you know, like.

You can get a right good...

LIGHT SHADE RATTLES Gee! Oh.

Certainly worries me a little bit

cos he doesn't know anything about them,

he doesn't know how loud or not that person is

and he's responsible for them.

'He's been pretty foolish, really,

'but I couldn't have spelled it out clearer to him last time.'

He's sober today, he was sober then,

so he's got no excuse, really.

It wasn't too bad last night, just freezing.

I keep waking up in the middle of the night with it being colder,

it's absolutely freezing.

In Hyde, Vicky, Sasha, Leyton, Grandpa and Grandma

are getting ready for another day.

Sasha gets the eight o'clock bus

and we start clearing everything away,

getting the living room back to a living room.

Six weeks tomorrow, yeah.

Don't come in!

-Love you.

-Love you, see you later.

I'll stand here and watch her, then she'll start messaging me,

then when she gets to school she'll tell me to ring her,

so I ring her until she gets in school.

I feel that's just me being paranoid!

SHE LAUGHS

All I want is just a roof over me head, that's it,

I don't ask for nothing much, you know,

I don't want a castle or anything, I just want...somewhere to be a home.

Probably miss 'em when they've gone anyway, miss having them around,

but we'll be glad, yeah, we can get everything back to normal.

Vicky's housing association allocate their empty homes

through a bidding system.

Each week, applicants put their names down for anything suitable.

I just really, really need to find somewhere, yeah, just hoping.

The rules state that Vicky can only bid for three-bed homes,

as the children must have separate rooms.

It's a three-bedroomed house in Dukinfield.

Not seen anything else in there, though.

Three-bed homes rarely come up and, when they do, they're very popular.

-Hiya.

-I want to put a bid on that one, please.

OK, you want to put your bid on Armadale Road?

It usually takes a couple of weeks, two to three weeks,

but, in the meantime, if you continue bidding,

it won't affect the outcome of this bid, anyway.

-Yeah, that's gone on fine for you.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

Just got to wait a couple of weeks, see what happens on that bid.

'That's all I can do really, just wait, just carry on bidding

'if there's any more next week.'

I don't know.

There is a problem with demand and supply of family homes.

We don't have enough properties and the biggest demand on our properties

are on our two, three and four-bedroomed properties.

Once families move in, they tend to stay,

and they can stay for as long as they like,

we don't force people to move on.

We have an ageing population so you can end up with elderly people

living in family accommodation and taking that up.

We also have a growing population, which has added to the problems

and we just can't build enough properties to meet our demand.

Government legislation ensures that housing associations

should keep their homes safe and up-to-date.

In Ashton-under-Lyne, a former mill holding 159 flats

is having new heating.

But one 80-year-old man is holding up the process.

Housing officer Lyndon Pugh is visiting the reclusive tenant,

Gerard, who has a problem with hoarding.

The problem we've got at the moment is all this stuff in your flat.

We've not got much area to work within.

I don't know what I've got, to be quite honest. It needs sorting.

If you see where your heaters are at the moment,

the contractors are going to need access.

-There's one here and there's one on the wall.

-There's one there, there's one in the wall.

-On the left, on the right-hand side.

-Yeah, yeah. Clear.

As Lyndon starts to examine the flat, there's another issue.

But these are a bit close to this heater, here,

so we need to move those away from the heater.

What are all these newspapers for, are they...?

No, I was going to throw them out, wasn't I?

I was looking for something.

If you were to have a fire in here there's a lot of paper,

there's a lot of boxes and things that, you know, could catch alight.

Right, can we go through to your bedroom?

Just get past you again.

You have got quite a lot of stuff in here, haven't you?

And you can't use it as a bedroom

because of all the stuff that you've got in here.

-Cos you've... Is your bed under there?

-Yeah.

-Right.

Right, let me just have a look in your bathroom.

Bloody hell.

How are you in terms of washing at the moment? How do you have a wash?

-Oh, I can use it here.

-Do you use the sink?

-Yeah.

We do home fire risk assessment, with all our tenants

to make sure the properties are safe to live in.

Yours, at the moment, being cluttered,

is putting yourself and your neighbours at risk,

so that's why we need to make sure that we get everything in order

and again, you know, it'll help you to live better.

All right, so you take care. OK?

Lyndon will need to work carefully with Gerard

so they can get to a point where the contractors

can install his new heating system.

-See you again.

-See you.

Gerard has been living alone for 18 years.

When his parents died, he inherited all their belongings.

Look, what's in that one?

I haven't got a clue what's in there!

That's not mine, that's my father's, that.

I can tell you that cos I haven't wear... That's my father's.

There's me dad.

If they saw how I was living, me father would... He'd go mad.

But me mother would - I know she would.

She'd, she'd go... Well, she'd go mad.

Gerard's mother was a strict Christian

and often donated the family's possessions to those in need.

Even when I was a youngster, you know, toys and that, they'd go.

I'd have nothing. She'd just give them away.

She'd do it with your shoes as well and, you know,

there wouldn't be any there.

So now Gerard keeps almost everything.

In Stalybridge it's 10pm,

and the housing association's warnings to Stephen are having no effect.

His neighbour, Thomas, is having another sleepless night.

BASS RUMBLES

I can't stand him any more. Either he goes or I go.

It's got to be... It's got to be one way or another,

but I'm here at my flat, I've been here 20 years

and I don't want to be driven out.

Hello? Gordon?

-'Yeah.'

-Yeah, I'll let you in.

ENTRY PHONE BEEPS

Gordon lives 20 metres away and is also fed up with the noise.

MUSIC BLARES

-Oh, my God.

-Terrible isn't it?

I know, I've just been on the phone now.

That's been half six, half past ten now.

Well, we've just got back from Scotland,

just pulled up, heard this noise.

I mean, nobody can go to sleep with this noise, can they?

Bloody ridiculous, isn't it?

I can't do any more than what I'm doing at the moment.

-No, I know you can't.

-I can't go any further.

None of us can go any further.

If it goes on much longer, we're banging on his ruddy door.

Right.

So I'll come back and give you... See you afterwards, all right?

-OK, I'll see you later.

-Thank you very much indeed.

MUSIC BLARES

Listen to this bloody lot out here, eh?

MUSIC STOPS

Five past 11.

MUSIC BLARES Ooh, I was just going to say then,

we might be getting a little bit of a lull, but not much chance.

PARTY-GOERS SHOUT

They've now started to argue.

Quite loudly.

Following the recent incidents, Ivan is collecting the evidence

from the sound-recording equipment at Tom's flat.

What I plan to do is I'll swap the DVR over,

for once I can get those recordings off there.

But for now I just need to get some details, really.

Just about, you know, how it's affecting you.

Extremely depressed,

er...not feeling well at all,

and when it's quiet, I seem to feel it more

because I'm ready for anything else that's going to happen.

And these incidents don't happen only in the evening -

sometimes they can go on well past midnight.

Yeah, yeah. I'll do everything that we can to get him to stop.

I'll then take that to our legal department

to see what legal action we can take following this.

Because we've got a number of residents

that are happy to give evidence for us,

to say what they've been exposed to...

..and the effects, unfortunately, that it's having on the resident above,

I think we've got a very strong case to get a civil injunction,

potentially with a power of arrest attached to it

because of the mental damage it's doing to the chap above.

But, two days later,

before Ivan has the chance to get the injunction issued,

Stephen is partying again.

MUSIC: "Never Have To Be Alone" by Ultrabeat

# So full of sparkle and such light

# Let me remind

-# You'll never have to be alone

-Never, ever be alone... #

MUSIC BLARES

# Never have to be alone... #

He's got worse lately.

It's been happening again, but he's gone worse.

# Never have to be alone... #

In 2011, housing associations in England

built fewer than 40,000 new homes.

One home for every 45 households on the waiting list.

In Hyde, Vicky and her children are desperate for a home.

They've now been staying with her parents

in their one-bed flat for nine weeks.

In Vicky's housing association,

they have completed the weekly allocation of homes.

Unfortunately, Vicky, I've got a bit of bad news

about the properties that you were bidding on.

The tenant of that property gave us the tenancy,

but now she's decided to retract it.

Right. I checked first thing for you and there's no three-bedroom houses.

Keep in touch with me, I'm always here if you need a bit of advice

or a chat, just give me a call.

All right then, see you, love. Bye-bye, now. Bye.

Vicky's in a situation where she might not...

There might not be a three-bedroom property come back in the areas

that she's bidding on for quite a while.

And I do feel for her, you know, like, having a daughter and a son

sleeping on an airbed, especially at this time of the year,

but the good thing that Vicky's done is widen her choice of areas.

She's not just bidding on Denton now,

she's bidding on surrounding areas,

so that in itself gives her a better chance.

Vicky has been forced to look for a home

further and further from her mum and dad and Sasha's school.

I've had to go further afield than what I wanted

because there's so little three-bedrooms coming available to actually bid on,

so, yeah, I've had to broaden my horizons at bit.

But I've bidded on the property, new development one, in Ashton.

Three bed, which is what I need.

So just...fingers crossed. Just sit and wait and see what happens.

But Vicky is concerned that living in a different town

would prove an added pressure for the family.

Knowing Sasha's got to go further afield, it worries me

that I'll end up taking her to school, meeting her after school.

I just keep waiting for Wednesdays to come to see what there is

and then once there isn't nothing,

that's another full week of waiting, hoping, and if there's nothing again,

you just keep getting dropped back down to square one.

# Jingle bells, jingle bells... #

In the centre of Ashton, Lyndon is checking on Gerard.

Hello, Gerard. How are you doing?

He's hoping to encourage him to remove some of his clutter,

ready for essential updating in the flat.

Right, let's have a look.

Gerard clearly needs help and support,

but it's a delicate situation and Lyndon will have to tread carefully.

-What's that there, Lyndon, there?

-Where? Where are we looking?

-No, next to the bag?

-This?

-No.

-This?

-Come down, come down.

-That?

-No come down again.

-That?

-No, next to it.

-This?

-No, with the wire... Oh, it's the iron, isn't it?

-It's the iron.

-Oh, ah.

-Eh?

-Yeah.

What about this fan? This looks really old.

-Yeah, it works, that.

-That works?

-Yeah, no problems with it.

In your kitchen now, this is quite cluttered at the moment.

I think that's congealed, that Cif. It's solid hard, by the look of it.

No, it's still good, it's just the top. I can use that.

-You can use that?

-Clear the top out.

-Lime juice?

-There's some there.

-There's some in there.

-Yeah, I still use it.

May 2011.

And tins have quite a lengthy lifespan, but these have expired.

Rice pudding, February 1999. Before the millennium.

The build-up of clutter has meant Gerard cannot use his bed.

It's all underneath there. The bed.

It's all underneath there and it's that way.

And I sleep on there, on the air bed, there.

I've been there now since about four year.

At the moment, you can't use your bed in your bedroom

cos of all your stuff, so we need to get those two rooms

back in operation, because it's no good you sleeping on the floor

-in your living room, is it?

-No.

-No.

I don't think you're going to be able to move all this on your own

cos there's a lot of stuff. It's a tall order for any fit person.

How would you feel if I referred you free for some support?

Then they can either help you or point you in the right direction,

-so how would you feel about that?

-Yeah.

Yeah? So if I make a referral and we'll be able to, I'm sure,

give you some assistance with, you know,

sorting your flat out and things.

Lyndon's housing association has recently seen

a significant rise in tenants whose collecting gets out of control.

Out of my teams, we have about five or six cases at any one time

and they are very difficult to resolve

because it's taken years and years of time and effort

for some of our tenants to collect all this material,

whether that's papers, items of furniture, whatever it may be,

and that's going to take us years and years

to try and change that type of behaviour, and often

we're never going to be able to resolve that type of behaviour.

This morning, Stephen is visiting his elderly mother.

No matter what happens, Beryl is always there for him.

Sometimes I'll give him a couple of tins of something.

Corned beef or baked beans or anything that can make a meal.

Underneath it all, there's a good lad,

and we used to say, "You'll break somebody's heart one day,"

not realising it'd be mine.

What you on about, me breaking your heart at some point?

First one of t'day, first of many, usually.

There's no light at the end of the tunnel, Stephen,

so what I do, how much I lend you, sort you out,

-I've paid your bills, haven't I?

-Yes.

-Well, at 73, I don't want this.

I should be having peace of mind now, not all this aggro.

That's a pound. There you are, Stephen.

Make that the last today.

Ta, love.

The injunction to curb Stephen's partying

has now been presented to court

and Ivan needs to serve the papers in person.

I want respite for the neighbours as soon as possible,

and there's a weekend, you know, looming

and if he doesn't get served, then there's every possibility

that the date for court will get moved,

which means we won't get the injunction,

which means ultimately the neighbours will have to endure

what they've had to endure for a long time now.

-Ivan's tracked him down to his mother's.

-We're here.

We've come... We're going to court on Friday to get a civil injunction.

Right.

So it's an order from a civil judge which would say,

if granted on Friday, that you're not allowed to do certain things.

Similar to your tenancy agreement.

I'm trying to get this back in order.

If you do do those things, then you'll be seen

as being in contempt of court, and that judge can then sentence you

to up to two years in prison as a result of breaching his rules.

Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it, yeah, two years is a nightmare.

So the conditions there are about noise, nuisance, causing harm and stress,

but also it's about the number of visitors you have at your property.

You're no longer allowed more than two visitors to your property.

Oh. Um...

They've all started staying away anyway.

That wasn't the case yesterday. I was there,

there were three guys there yesterday and you weren't there

and they were letting themselves in and out of a door you'd left unlocked, so that's not the case.

There's no key. I've lost the keys.

I've told you before, you need to change those locks.

Me mate said he had a barrel for me.

Well, get on it, cos it's very important.

Is that all of it? Do you need your PE kit doing?

No, you did that the other day.

My blazer's in my bag.

It's now four months since Vicky and her children

started sleeping on the floor of her parents' flat.

Although she would be happy with a two-bed home,

regulations mean she can only apply for a rare three-bed house.

So far, she's been unsuccessful.

For the last few days, Rita has been struggling to contact Vicky.

PHONE RINGS

'Hello?'

-Hiya, Vicky, it's Rita.

-'Hiya.'

How are you? I've been trying so hard to get hold of you lately.

'I know, yeah.'

I've been trying to give you some good news.

You've been matched up to the three-bedroom house,

you know, that you were asking me about.

'Yeah, yeah. Well, the thing is, I was looking at a private rented one.

'Now, the thing is, the one with the private one,

'they've also offered me mum and dad one next door to the same house,

'so I think I'll be taking that one,

'so I'm not too far away from them in case they need me.'

Right. You are aware though, Vicky,

you know with the private rented accommodation,

you've not got a secure tenancy there,

and if you were to decide that, you know, it wasn't for you,

-private renting, and you come back on our waiting list...

-'Yeah.'

..it'd be very unlikely you'd be matched to a property

because you were adequately housed in our eyes then.

'Yeah, yeah, I know that.'

So I want to make sure that you're 100% positive

that you want to go down the private and rented sector.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So shall I just close your application down then

and say you, you know, you've found housing elsewhere?

'Yeah, I think it's best, so nobody else is hanging around,

'you know, who needs the houses.'

-Right.

-'You know, who's next in line,

'but I do appreciate everything you've done for me, I do.

'With not being able to drive and stuff,

'I've got the chance of being next door

'so I would prefer to do that so that I'm near them as well.'

-All right, then.

-'All right, thank you, bye.'

The decision to take a privately rented house

was difficult for Vicky.

-Now don't eat them all.

-I'm not!

I know what you're like, I need to put padlocks on the cupboards.

It was a couple of days before we had to sign for this, so she just sat there, thinking and thinking.

Situation of not knowing what to do and I thought

one minute I haven't got anything and the next minute I've got to choose and it was just really hard.

I was trying to please everybody, just make sure everybody's happy

and I think I've made the right choice to make sure that everybody's happy, anyway.

The privately rented house is close to Sasha's school

and right next door to her mum and dad.

Got to think of the kids as well as me mum and dad, do you know?

I don't what to be dragging them around

while I'm trying to look after me mum and dad,

it's just so much easier the way that it is now, with them just being next door.

Yeah, this is mine and Leyton's bedroom.

We've just got our own space. Getting decent sleep.

I've had a couple of my friends staying over,

and they'll come round and it's just...

It's better cos I can have more friendly time,

because, like, I can have my own little time upstairs

instead of, like, everyone running around and it all being hectic.

In Ashton, Lyndon has referred Gerard for extra support

and, with his cooperation, they're planning a dramatic approach.

I need help and support, you know, to get rid of the stuff.

Gerard's support workers have organised a big clear out.

Some of the stuff's got to go, ain't it?

Some of the stuff is just complete rubbish

as far as I'm concerned, but all me clothing -

I've got clothes of clothing that needs to be washed,

you with me? I don't even know... I bet, I've got somewhere...

There's a coat and I think it's in the...

Me mother had a fur coat and that's still there,

and I seal it all up in bags, you with me?

Are you going to keep all those clothes that...?

Well, those... Well, I can't wear a fur coat, can I?

I don't know what I'm going to do with that.

Second floor?

To create living space, the team will remove

many of the items Gerard's held on to for years.

Have you seen the rubbish that's in there?

One of Gerard's support workers, Margaret, is leading the clear-out.

Well, what we'll do... What they said they'd do is clear it

and then we can always reintroduce it back in, what you need, is that OK?

-Yeah.

-All right then.

Now, we've cleared this of pretty much everything except rubbish,

-which we'll put in a bag and take with us.

-OK.

-That's me mother's.

-Is it?

Yeah. I didn't wear them.

Is there something in it, was there a photograph?

Is a stamp. It's an old stamp.

There is a fine line between trying to enforce support on to people,

because ultimately, you know, they have a choice,

they don't have to accept our help and support and guidance,

and quite often there's times when people say no.

They don't want... They just won't open the door to us.

But our job is to build that trust and spend the time

trying to build that relationship with the tenant and their household,

so that we can make a difference

and try and turn that situation around.

The clearance of Gerard's flat has finished and Lyndon is checking

if the heating contractors can now begin work.

Well, this area's a real big improvement

because you can noticeably see as you walk in, you know,

it's pretty much clear, isn't it?

And, you know, like, there's a lot of progress been made

because, as I say, now this area, for the most part, is totally clear

and there's a lot of items gone through this middle part of your living room.

Yeah, so there is real progress

in terms of we'll be able to now access putting your heating in.

-Was you here when I was looking for me shoes? Couldn't find them!

-Right.

And they, anyway, and what they'd done,

they'd put them in that bottom drawer.

Right, so they'd put them away for you.

So it's... Ooh.

Real big improvement, isn't it? I can see your bed now.

Yeah, you might... You might need probably a new mattress

cos it'd be nice for you

to start using this room again as your bedroom.

I'm sure you're sick of lying on the floor, aren't you?

Well, he is starting to do a few odd jobs in the house

and he's also, you know, clearing through some of the items himself

and I think underneath he can see progress and there's signs

that he does understand now that he needs to sort the issue out.

In Stalybridge, the police have been called to Stephen's flat.

Hello, Stephen? Hi, you all right?

It's the police, can we come in, please?

-You know this court injunction that was served 27th April?

-Yeah.

That you're not allowed to have groups of people here

who play loud music and so on? Well, we've got four statements

to say that you've broken that injunction, so we're taking you in.

-Already?

-Already, yeah. We'll show you the statements

when we get to the police station, OK?

Right, Stephen, up we get, mate.

Come round this way, mate.

-Let's go down the station and get you sorted out.

-Yeah, come on then.

In the back, mate.

STEPHEN COUGHS HOARSELY

On top of being arrested,

there is now a real risk Stephen will lose his home.

I don't know what's going to happen if he's turned out of that flat.

I don't.

I suppose it'll be down to me

and then rest of t'family will fall out with me, then.

I'm between the devil and the deep blue sea, really.

Following the reduction in Gerard's clutter,

the contractors have been able to update his heating...

-Where are we going?

-Just straight through here. It's easier going in the lift.

..and Lyndon has persuaded the housing association

to dip into the estate budget and replace Gerard's bed.

Wheels are at the bottom, so...

-That's it.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

This is the first time I've made a tenant's bed

and I'm sure it won't be the last.

You know?

Do you want to test that now and just see what it's like?

I've still got my shoes on.

It'll be fine. Is that a bit more...?

-Yeah. Oh, yeah.

-Yeah?

Yeah?

I could do with another pillow.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd