Liverpool's housing boss has sounded the alarm over the shoddy shared housing in the city which neighbours blame for a slew of problems in their areas.
Cabinet member for housing, Lynnie Hinnigan, said the rise in number of homes in multiple occupation (HMOs) had led to a 'crisis' in parts of the city.
HMOs have long been present in Liverpool but in recent years their numbers have spiked, with many often being of poor quality and having transient tenants which can cause issues with fly-tipping, noise and anti-social behaviour.
The ECHO has reported previously about the effects of large numbers of house of Kensington - but Picton, Anfield, and Tuebrook and Stoneycroft are some of the other worst affected wards.
And speaking at Monday's housing select committee meetings, councillor Lynnie Hinnigan said a recent meeting with Picton residents had underlined how serious the problem is there.
Councillor Hinnigan said: "It is absolutely at crisis level in Picton ward now with the HMO situation.
"It was absolutely heartwrenching what the community there are putting up with and the speed and the rate of HMOs going into Picton."
The council is currently gathering evidence for a pitch to government that could give it more powers to control the spread of HMOs in parts of the city.
Councillor Hinnigan said the council is in the process of bringing on consultants to help with the city's plan to get a so-called Article 4 direction.
The move, which requires a submission to government, would bolster the council's position at planning committees where it currently has little power to influence the quality of HMO applications or reject them.
However the process is lengthy and requires evidence of economic damage to the areas affected in order to be successful, and councillor Hinnigan said it would take time for the council to be sure it would be successful.
She said: "There is no point in me giving people false hope that this will be over quickly.
"There could be stuff we could do in the short term to help but when a lot of it is out of our control at the moment I am not going to go and give people that false hope because it's not fair."
Liverpool is not alone in having issues with HMOs, with other cities with large student or other transient populations also facing problems with poorer quality shared housing.
