The smell hits you as you walk through the door - a grimy, stomach-churning mix of stale dirt, damp and bleach.

In the living room there are a couple of discarded filing cabinets and nothing else. No sofa, no light.

A cloud of flies bursts from the upstairs toilet. The front door is boarded up, the kitchen door permanently locked. The downstairs toilet and shower are both encrusted with filth. Stains cover the surfaces of every room, from floor to light-switch to ceiling.

The locks on the bedrooms are broken or don’t exist.

One recent resident says a rat has recently been sighted.

Yet the landlord of this east Manchester ‘bed and breakfast’ is collecting hundreds of pounds a month in benefit from the homeless people living inside, people who have slipped so far through society’s cracks that they feel they now have only one other option: the streets.

The squalor, danger and death behind the closed doors of the B&Bs used by hundreds of Manchester’s homeless people is never seen by the public, rarely seen by the council and goes unrecorded by the government, which does not count their residents in its official figures.

But new research by the Openshaw-based homeless charity Justlife reveals the scale of the crisis hidden away in the city’s grim private guesthouses.

It estimates that if all the people living in this type of ‘unsupported temporary accommodation’ - provision for homeless people who do not tick the right boxes for official help - were actually counted in national figures, government statistics would be ten times higher nationally than ministers currently admit.

In Manchester alone, Justlife believes it has identified 500 such people. As they are not owed a homelessness ‘duty’ by the local authority - because they are not in ‘priority’ need under national legislation, due to not being considered vulnerable enough - they have ended up languishing in B&Bs, unrecorded, ‘cycling in and out of rough sleeping’.

Effectively, they are edited out.

As the country’s homeless crisis becomes visibly worse, these ‘lost and forgotten’ people drift through the gaps, finds the report, suffering ‘great hardship, which goes largely unnoticed’.

It calls on ministers to finally sit up and take note.

“The unimaginable life so many live in this accommodation requires those in positions of power no longer to ignore them, but to include them in plans for ending homelessness,” it concludes.

A six-month investigation by the Manchester Evening News bears out Justlife’s own research.

The precariousness and misery of existence inside Manchester’s grimmest establishments was described in painful detail both by former residents and local charities, who see a direct link to the city’s rough sleeping crisis.

For while even the worst B&Bs are providing a service to people with nowhere else to go - and their landlords are neither social workers, nor responsible for the vulnerability, drug addictions or deaths of people who live there - some of the conditions uncovered by our research are at best bleak and at worst dangerous, leading some people to opt for a city centre doorway instead.

At one B&B we uncovered a stream of 999 calls in relation to overdoses, fits and traumatic injuries, as well as several deaths, one as recently as December.

Elsewhere another landlord had moved homeless people back into his large terraced property after two separate fires had burned away the roof.

Eventually residents simply moved to his other establishment, over the road, where former tenants spoke of similar squalor.

Often people - particularly single men - speak of living in such conditions for years, if not decades.

Paul, 49 (not his real name), lived until recently in one such establishment.

After becoming homeless following a relationship breakdown and a spell in hospital, he says his local housing provider simply handed him a slip of paper with a name and address on it, before telling him to get the bus ten miles to a four-storey house in Openshaw.

When he got there, still recovering from his illness, Paul says he was so shocked at conditions, including rampant use of hard drugs, that he moved to a nearby B&B in the hope it may be better.

It wasn’t.

“I was given a ‘license agreement’ that said I’d have to pay £20 top-up for seven meals a week,” he says, showing the M.E.N. a poorly-typed scrap of paper containing spelling mistakes.

“I never had any kind of meal. For whatever reason, the kitchen was locked.

“My room was absolutely filthy, with a tiny sink that was too small to get a kettle under. I learned how to make baked beans in a kettle, thinking ‘I just shouldn’t be doing things like this’.

“There were mice in my room, I had bare wires hanging down from the ceiling and it was like that from day one.

“When I arrived, there was no shower working in the entire house and I had to cobble together some bits to make one that we could use. At one point the bathroom ceiling caved in because the water was leaking from the toilet above.

“Nearly every window was cracked, there was no washing machine, there no locks on the bedroom doors - or if there was, you could get in with a lollipop stick, so I’d put a chair behind the door to stop anyone getting in.

“There was a rat seen on the ground floor at one point and the front door often got left open so people could wander in. There were fights.

“I didn’t feel safe, and I can look after myself.”

Yet some landlords are bringing in hefty amounts of benefits from the destitute people who land on their doorstep, according to homeless charities and residents themselves.

At Paul’s B&B the M.E.N. has estimated that, at full occupancy, tenants could be paying collectively more than £3,000 in housing benefit each month, despite them claiming that they are receiving virtually nothing but a roof in return.

In some cases, they don’t even get that.

On Gransmoor Avenue in Higher Openshaw, a large house well-known to local charities - not technically a B&B, but similarly classed as ‘unsupported temporary accommodation’ for the homeless - had an extensive fire in its roof in June 2016, attended by five fire engines.

When they arrived, firefighters found residents had managed to escape. But the following day a second fire saw another six engines called out, only for crews to find a homeless man once again living in the property.

Just under a month later, the council’s housing enforcement team entered the same house after being contacted by Justlife, who were concerned that people were still living in the building.

At that point the council placed a prohibition notice on the house, having again found a homeless man living inside. They also found its landlord, Mr Ali, was trying to move a second former resident ‘back into the property’.

Their enforcement notice meant that were he to do so again, he would be breaking the law.

But at that point many of the residents simply moved over the road to one of the landlord’s other properties, Warren Guest House, according to charities and former tenants spoken to by the M.E.N.

A string of previous residents at that B&B have told how they have never had meals despite paying extra for breakfasts, describing squalid conditions, a locked kitchen, broken windows and no locks on the bedrooms. Justlife regularly sees its residents at their drop-ins.

The M.E.N. put the conditions at both Gransmoor Avenue and Warren Guesthouse to Mr Ali, but he refused to comment.

Down the road in Ardwick, Val’s Hotel has been notorious among homeless charities and council officers for years.

Its labyrinth of 60-plus rooms have seen more than 50 ambulance call-outs in the 18 months to last summer, according to an M.E.N. FOI request, including to eight overdoses, 10 people fitting, three assaults, someone with ‘traumatic injuries’ and a resident with lacerations.

In the last few weeks of 2017 there was at least one death, according to the police, although charities believe there were in fact three.

Haydn Smith, 55, who lived in the hotel around eight years ago, recalls a series of deaths while he was there.

“I had to get out,” says Haydn, who eventually sought out support for his heroin addiction and left. Today he volunteers for the city centre homeless charity Mustard Tree.

“People were dying in there. I lived there about three years and at least three people died there during that time. One died of an overdose. One guy died in the bath and one guy died of alcohol poisoning.

“I got it in my head that I was going to die in there too. The only reason I didn’t take my own life was because my mum was still alive.”

Haydn had been an addict for years before ending up in Val’s after leaving prison.

He was pointed towards the hotel by a homelessness organisation in the city centre and on arrival says he was immediately given some forms that saw his housing benefit paid direct to the landlord.

“My giro went straight to him,” he says. “I think he was getting about £110 a week. You’d have two beds in a room no bigger than a cell. It was infested with mice.

“There was a resident drug dealer who would just go out and buy all the bags and bring it back, so for me it was easy. I was depressed, I was on drugs and I didn’t have to do anything.

“In a way it’s ok for people in that state of mind - a roof is a roof. But to get out of that state of mind is a different story.

“Anyone in that environment is not going to get better.”

The hotel’s current owners told the M.E.N. they only took it over 18 months ago and have just recently sold it on. They are planning to move its 20 remaining residents to a new property in Dukinfield.

Manager Dee Chiandra admits people have died in the hotel over the years, but says there is little he can do to stop its residents taking drugs.

“We can’t stop the drugs and drink and the fighting inside the building,” he says.

“If we stopped them taking drugs they’d come and fight with us.”

He adds that they had ‘tried their best’ a few months ago to improve conditions and make the hotel safer, adding: “In the last few months we have had fewer calls for the emergency services and there’s been less crime in the building. When we are taking them in, we are providing good conditions for residents.

“Most of the people who have died in this property were drug addicts.”

He insists that while the hotel’s owners are collecting housing benefit, utilities and meal overheads mean they are still not breaking even.

Asked whether support services had ever been in to help residents with their addictions, he says: “No. It’s never happened.”

Jonathan Billings, whose Stockport charity the Wellspring helps burgeoning numbers of homeless people over the border from Manchester, is well-acquainted with the problems at Val’s, but says the hotel is not unusual.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“We regularly speak to rough sleepers from all parts of Greater Manchester and the majority would say that they have had bad experiences in B&Bs - and would feel safer sleeping on the streets rather than somewhere like Val’s hotel,” he says.

“Homeless people are often in need of intensive professional support, and this must be consistent over time.

“B&B accommodation offers little if any support to people in need. In our experience almost everyone who is housed in B&B accommodation becomes homeless again.”

The M.E.N. put the conditions in Val’s, Warren’s, Gransmoor and similar properties to the council and asked how it goes about regulating such housing. It said all such licensed ‘houses of multiple occupation’ receive an annual inspection to check on space requirements and amenities such as the number of kitchens and bathrooms. In extreme circumstances, those licenses can be revoked.

Recently, following the establishment of a city-wide working group on B&B accommodation that includes Justlife, it has also started unannounced inspections.

Clearly, however, such a regime has not eliminated the problem. And there are many in the sector who say they privately fear that due to a lack of an alternative, were such guest houses to close down tomorrow, the vast majority of residents would end up on the streets - in the absence of any other option.

Emergency accommodation in the city is already under huge strain. The town hall’s spending on it has trebled since 2016 and it is expecting a further 60pc rise in people approaching it for support over the next couple of years as Universal Credit is rolled out further and changes to legislation place more duties on local authorities.

Meanwhile the rocketing numbers of rough sleepers in the city are already well-documented.

Nevertheless the council says it is doing what it can to come up with new solutions, including by trying to stop people falling between the cracks in the first place.

“Together with a wide range of public and voluntary sector partners as part of the Manchester homeless partnership, we are working very hard to tackle this challenging issue with a strong emphasis on prevention to stop those at risk of homelessness from falling into it in the first place, as well as providing a wide range of temporary accommodation and intensive support to help anyone who does become homeless to enable them to move forwards and build sustainable independent lives,” says deputy council leader Bernard Priest.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“We are striving to strengthen this support offer all the time - for example, the homeless prevention centre in Chorlton - and reduce homelessness.

“This includes the Street Support network of charities and the Big Change multi-charity ‘alternative giving’ campaign which is helping people build a life away from the streets by paying for items such as a deposit for a flat.”

But while the town hall is ploughing an extra £3m into its homelessness service this year, he says government is only making the situation harder.

“We have a moral duty to support the most vulnerable - and will continue to invest in this - but it is fair to say that ongoing budget reductions and other national changes are not helping,” he adds.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who has made homelessness a priority since becoming mayor a year ago, admits the scale of the numbers uncovered by Justlife and the conditions found by the M.E.N. are ‘horrifying’. Like charities, he believes the precarious nature of B&B living is directly fuelling Manchester’s rough sleeping crisis.

He is already picking up on one of Justlife’s recommendations: for a temporary accommodation board to be set up in each borough to help oversee conditions and the rights of residents.

“These aren’t just statistics,” he says. “They are real people living in the kind of squalor that would appal Dickens. People would be shocked if they saw the state of Manchester’s hidden slums.

“Here in Greater Manchester we have identified this issue within our joint plan and recognise the current situation as a root cause of street homelessness.

“With our partners, we are exploring the options to have temporary accommodation boards set up in each Greater Manchester district. We will also bring in appropriate stakeholders to ensure solutions are tied to our Greater Manchester-wide good landlord scheme.

“But we can’t do this on our own – we need some leadership from the government.”

(Image: Eddie Garvey)

Pointing to comments by homelessness minister Heather Wheeler a few weeks ago - in which she said she didn’t know why homelessness was rising - he adds: “The minister needs to listen to what everyone is saying about the impact of Universal Credit, welfare changes, precarious employment and cuts in funding for local government, which are all major contributing factors.

“We simply cannot reduce rough sleeping with a government in denial.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Everyone deserves a safe and decent place to live, and we are providing more than £1.2bn to ensure homeless people get the support they need.

“To ensure they can access permanent accommodation, we are also investing £2bn in social rent housing and allowing councils to borrow more to build homes.

“In addition, the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force this month, requiring councils to help those at risk of being homeless sooner.”

The government also points out that Greater Manchester has had funding to pilot a ‘housing first’ model and insists its efforts are having a ‘real impact’ in some parts of the country, including London.

Its own data shows that in Manchester, the pressure on temporary accommodation is in fact getting worse, however. Between October and December last year 811 people presented to Manchester council as homeless, up from 755 at the start of 2017.

Christa Mciver, author of Justlife’s report, stresses it is important to recognise the many landlords of unsupported temporary accommodation in the city who want to improve conditions for the vulnerable people living in their properties. Often, as Jonathan Billings also highlights, those people have extremely complex needs but little or no support in place, leaving landlords struggling to deal with the fall-out.

Already many B&B landlords are cooperating both with the council and Justlife through Manchester’s temporary accommodation board, which seeks to drive up standards.

Nevertheless, many people are still languishing in appalling conditions. And leaders at the highest level have yet to wake up to the crisis, she believes.

“At some point slums became socially unacceptable,” she points out.

“But because this is hidden away, somehow it’s allowed to continue. As a society, we need to pay closer attention and hold our leaders to account.

“As a sector, we need to collectively develop practical solutions alongside landlords and residents, instead of only waiting for government to provide the solutions.

“We do need the policy solutions, but there are changes we can work together to make now that will alleviate the suffering of those left in unsupported temporary accommodation.”

When the M.E.N. met Paul, he had recently managed - with the help of Justlife - to get a place in a different hostel with social care support finally included.

But he says that for the people he left behind, many of them living for years in such conditions, there remains a very stark choice.

“Living like that, we’re only one up from being on the streets and they can do what they want to you,” he says.

“Is it better than being on the streets? Yeah, but I can understand why some people prefer to sleep rough, because they just can’t live like that.

“You see people walking into town from the B&Bs to beg with their shoes held together with elastic bands.”

Until it happened to him, he had no idea that this was where people end up, he admits.

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“It’s disgusting. And the landlords are making money off them, but you become very resigned to it.

“These people have slipped through the net. Where’s their voice?”