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A councillor has admitted she would rather sleep on the streets than stay in some of the accommodation provided to rough sleepers by the city council.

Speaking during a debate on a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for the city centre, Councillor Penny Holbrook (Lab) admitted she would rather 'sleep in a doorway' than in some council-provided accommodation

Cllr Holbrook, who chairs the Housing and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee, was commenting on the issue of homelessness in the city centre, with some fearing that the proposed PSPO will be used to target rough sleepers.

Both the council and West Midlands Police insist that this is not the case, adding that the order will help get housing and assistance to those who may have turned it down in the past.

But Cllr Holbrook also added that any housing offered to people must be of good quality, with some council accommodation seemingly not up to standard.

"So it's all very well and good us offering support and accommodation but we have all met people who are on the streets because it's better than the quality of accommodation we offer," she said.

"I always quote the case of the gentleman I met who's been clean now for 18 months from heroin now after a 30 year addict, but he put himself on the streets for six months to get clean.

"Because every place we accommodated him was an issue for him, because there was using going on.

"And now I know that Councillor Thompson is working on that and I know that we're looking at doing some commissioning work around that, but it doesn't seem fair to penalise somebody who is just not able to cope in the accommodation that we are commissioning - that's a bit of a concern for me.

"I would rather sleep in a doorway than in some of the properties that we put people in."