DEAR MR GOV CAN YOU SHUT THE GATES PLEASE Welcome to Shanty Town Britain: Desperate Britons are paying £20 a week to landlords renting out beds in sheds as UKs housing crisis spirals Pictures show harrowing extent of the housing crisis in the UK Windowless, bare rooms converted from sheds are let for £20 a week Occupants endure basic and filthy conditions, including a bucket for a toilet They are rented by the country’s poorest people and migrants By SAM WEBB PUBLISHED: 11:38, 30 June 2014 | UPDATED: 15:41, 30 June 2014 227 shares 80View comments The grim reality of Britains housing crisis has been laid bare by these pictures of the slum-like conditions endured by the most desperate people in UK society. For just £20 per week, migrant workers and jobless locals live in beds in sheds - windowless garages and outhouses turned into an austere living space. The images were taken in the Whetley Hill area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, by a builder who was horrified that people are forced to live in such a degrading manner. The slum that shames Britain: These pictures, taken in Bradford by a builder in the Whetley Hill area of the West Yorkshire city, show the grim conditions endured by the most desperate people in the UK who are living in converted sheds and garages +6 The slum that shames Britain: These pictures, taken in Bradford by a builder in the Whetley Hill area of the West Yorkshire city, show the grim conditions endured by the most desperate people in the UK who are living in converted sheds and garages One of the pictures shows a mattress on the floor of a breeze-block shack, with a bucket acting as a toilet, The residents paltry possessions are seen on metal shelves lined with newspaper. The builder, who was told the occupant is an Eastern European immigrant who sells scrap metal, told the Daily Star Sunday: It beggars belief that someone can be so desperate that they would live like this. More... Pay the jobless to move house to find work, says Duncan Smiths former think tank in echo of Tebbits on yer bike message Another boat packed with migrants heads for Europe as its revealed Britains population has grown by 5million in 12 years: This human tide will be the crisis of the century, warns DOMINIC SANDBROOK The shocking moment a pair of junkies slump on the floor of a public toilet after injecting themselves with a legal high Surely his life back home can’t have been any worse than sleeping on a mattress in a breeze-block shack in Bradford. I’m told he is paying £20 a week for this. A mattress on the floor of a breeze-block shack, next to a bucket that acts as a toilet. The residents paltry possessions are seen on metal shelves lined with newspaper +6 A mattress on the floor of a breeze-block shack, next to a bucket that acts as a toilet. The residents paltry possessions are seen on metal shelves lined with newspaper The rickety dwellings are a stark contrast to the upmarket Saltaire area of the city, where properties can sell for upwards of £250,000. The scourge of these often rickety, cramped and unhygienic buildings looks set to grow as the country struggles to accommodate the huge numbers of immigrants arriving here – both legally and illegally. But some authorities are fighting back. Officials in Harrow, north-west London used an aircraft equipped with a thermal camera to fly over the borough to pinpoint the illegal structures. The beds-in-sheds phenomenon means there is a hidden community springing up in the back gardens of our cities - in our borough alone the thermal pictures we receive suggest there are four times as many as we first suspected, said Susan Hall, the Conservative leader of Harrow council at the time. The pressures of migration in London, fuelled by recent waves of new arrivals from eastern Europe, are creating new stresses on local authorities that we just havent had to contend with before. What was once thought, even just 18 months ago, to be a problem for the centre of big cities is now rippling out to the suburbs. She added: These are people who use council services - like bin collection - but for whom we receive no extra funding. Earlier this year, Ealing Council estimated that the inhabitants of beds in sheds has pushed the area’s population up by 60,000 to nearly 400,000. David Shepherd, Bradford Council’s Assistant Director for Housing, Employment and Skills, said Bradford Council has received no complaints about sub-standard accommodation of thew type in the Whetley Hill area. He added: Standards in rented property are governed by the Housing Act 2004 which gives Local Authorities powers of enforcement to deal with sub-standard accommodation. If we discover people living in the conditions described we would use enforcement powers to prevent the use of the property and prosecute any person who failed to comply with a Prohibition Order. A Landlord could face a fine of up to £5,000 for breaching the order. Bradford Council would be happy to investigate these allegations and would appreciate further details on the location of these properties. The occupant of this shack, believed to be an Eastern European selling scrap metal, pays £20 a week rent +6 The occupant of this shack, believed to be an Eastern European selling scrap metal, pays £20 a week rent Refuse: When the occupants move out, landlords often simply dump the mattress on the street +6 Refuse: When the occupants move out, landlords often simply dump the mattress on the street The houses are a stark contrast to the upmarket Saltaire area of the city, where properties can sell for upwards of £250,000 +6 The houses are a stark contrast to the upmarket Saltaire area of the city, where properties can sell for upwards of £250,000 Two worlds: Upmarket Saltaire is a stark contrast to Whetley Hill in Bradford +6 Two worlds: Upmarket Saltaire is a stark contrast to Whetley Hill in Bradford Read more: Poor migrant workers live in grim shanty town hidden in Bradford | Latest News | Latest Breaking News | Daily Star. 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Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 16:17:00 +0000
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