An exclusive report in the Northern Echo recently exposed the 'disgusting' practice of private-sector landlords and their letting agencies collaborating with London Borough councils to transfer vulnerable people from the capital to County Durham without bothering to inform local councils or charity organisations first. I've posted a link below to the article published on Friday 6 September 2024.
MPs slam act of homeless Londoners moved to North East | The Northern Echo
The report comes at a time when a handful of people in our village are posting made-up scare stories on social media platforms about 'illegal' immigrants being offered housing in places like Blackhall Colliery because of 'official' government policy. Those claims are completely false of course, and appear to have been circulated simply to create a diversion to the real issues facing our communities, and also to distract public attention from the fact that organisations like Reform UK and their allies on the Thatcherite wing of the Tory party have nothing to offer in terms of realistic policy ideas. I responded to those claims in an article on these pages last week which highlights the actual facts of the matter:
It'll be interesting to see the reaction of the scaremongers and fake news agents to this latest report of 'vulnerable' people being sent into our communities by private-sector landlords without even the courtesy of letting the local councils know about it in advance, especially when it's acknowledged that none of these people are either 'illegal' immigrants or that they were moved here because of any 'official' government policy. They've been abandoned purely in the interest of private profit. Meanwhile our local councils and residents will be left to pick up the tab.
It's certainly something to ponder for those who've expressed their outrage and alarm recently at non-existent 'illegal' immigrants coming into our County Durham towns and villages, yet appear to be relaxed about this deplorable practice of absent private housing landlords and their managing agencies manipulating vulnerable people and raking in the profits at the expense of our residents and hard-pressed communities still reeling from 14 years of Tory government austerity.
