The landlords making millions from vulnerable adults' benefits

Investigation uncovers abuses in supported housing sector that 'would leave Charles Dickens lost for words'

- Catherine Neilan, Cormac Kehoe & Freya Shaw

When Mohammed urgently needed somewhere affordable to live, he turned to Gumtree. The website is awash with adverts offering "supported, exempt accommodation" (SEA) in Birmingham, for which tenants can be charged as little as £15 a week, with the rest taken from benefits. He started firing off messages on WhatsApp to find a place to stay.

Property agents were keen to help. "All you need is to be on some form of benefits, have ID and have your service charge money, and I'll get you into a room on the day,” one told him.

But that wasn't strictly true. SEA is a type of housing for vulnerable adults, including those with substance abuse issues, who have experienced domestic abuse or are leaving prison. It is exempt from housing benefit regulations, freeing it from the cap on rents that can be charged. The level of care, support and supervision offered to tenants is supposed to be "more than minimal", but the practical effect of the exempt status is that the sector has little regulatory oversight.