An outrage broke out as families were ordered to leave their homes so that refugees could settle in a village in the UK. At the same time as the refugee families are moving into the village, six local families are being ordered to leave – express.co.uk writes.
Following the Sunday Express’s investigation of their situation, six families who had been threatened with eviction by the Ministry of Defence (MoD from now on) were informed they could remain in their houses. However, some individuals are still being evicted with barely eight weeks to find new housing.
At Henlow Camp, Beds, which is close to a former RAF base, journalists discovered that while 15 Afghan refugee families were being relocated into properties in the same village, 24 households had received orders to vacate houses they had rented from the MoD.
Families Ordered to Leave
Adam Brunetti, a former soldier, his wife Michelle, and their two kids were among those ordered to leave; they had been given a mere two months to vacate their three-bedroom home. Brunetti has been informed they can remain in the interim.
He said: “Obviously we are very pleased… but we feel immense guilt because other families struggling with children and pets still have to go.”
Residents still facing eviction include Rachel Start, who came to Henlow Camp to be close to her parents. “Finding somewhere affordable will be extremely difficult,” she said. “We’re all in the same boat, so will be fighting over the same houses.”
Most of Henlow Camp’s properties are owned by a private developer but are leased by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, part of the MoD, which rents them to tenants.
An MoD spokesperson said tenants rented their homes on a “short-term basis” and had signed contracts making it clear they could be removed with two months’ notice. The spokesperson added: “Properties leased to families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are done so on a temporary basis and have no connection with the disposal of the site.”
Almost 6 Million New Homes Missing
16 000 homes for asylum seekers are funded by the Home Office despite a housing shortage. As they rush to move asylum seekers out of hotels, contractors working for the Home Office are offering landlords five-year guaranteed full rent agreements to take over property management.
These properties, sourced from the private rental and social housing markets, are being utilised to accommodate over 58 000 asylum seekers across England, Wales, and Scotland – a figure that has doubled in the last decade.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove has issued a warning that young Britons and families may lose faith in democracy if they continue to face obstacles in becoming homeowners. The government is planning to introduce policies aimed at attracting members of the so-called Boomerang Generation and Generation Rent, who return home after completing their education or training.
According to a Centre for Policy Studies study, in order for Britain to keep up with immigration-driven population growth, 5.7 million new homes would need to be built over the next 15 years. In the meantime, the Migration Advisory Committee’s data indicates that a 1percent rise in immigration-related population results in a 1percent increase in housing costs.
Social housing is also impacted, in London, nearly half of all households reside in non-UK countries. Young British adults are frustrated because they believe they are being left behind by a system that favors newcomers over them.
If the core causes of the housing crisis are not addressed, it will only get worse. Britain’s population is expected to increase by 6.6 million by 2036, with 6.1 million (more than 90 percent) coming from immigration. This growth is the equivalent of five Birmingham-sized cities.
