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The treatment of those who survived the blaze at Grenfell Tower has been a source of controversy since the deadly blaze. Here, three survivors tell Inside Housing their stories
The process of rehousing survivors of the deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower has been painfully slow. At least 256 people survived the fire. All of them lost their homes, as did some residents in the low rises immediately surrounding the building.
By mid-August, 177 initial housing offers had been made and 23 households had been rehoused by the Grenfell Response Team, which took over from Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Housing these people was never going to be easy but more than two months on, with so many of them still left in limbo, questions are being asked about how appropriate the response has been.
Inside Housing talks to some of the survivors.
Mouna El-Ogbani, 42
“Initially, after escaping from the fire with my two daughters – aged 10 and 2 – and my son, aged 13, we went to the Portobello Rugby Club, where we received clothing, and food and drink to break our fasts as it was Ramadan.
“Then in the days after the fire, the Al Manaar mosque offered us therapeutic sessions and the Clement James Centre helped us with financial support.
“Council officials arranged for us to go to a hotel the night after the fire. We have requested – with no success – to move to another hotel nearer to Latimer Road tube station but to our astonishment, another family were able to move to another hotel nearer to the community.
“I’ve been told that I will keep my secure lifetime tenancy upon rehousing by my key worker but when we were offered a home, it was a tenancy where they can give us notice at any time and when we asked them about the rent, they said that they needed to negotiate with the council. As you can see, there is a lot of uncertainty.
“We had another viewing where the flat smelled of damp and the kitchen was in a bad condition. We had another offer over the phone two weeks ago. The housing officer was meant to call us back about the last offer but up till now, he hasn’t. We’re always having to chase them up.
“They’ve also offered us private accommodation in Kensington for one year. We didn’t accept this as it’s not council accommodation.
“We don’t mind moving into a temporary home that has an option to become permanent, but we don’t want to have to move out of the hotel to move into a temporary flat that we will have to move out of again.”
Paul Menacer, 23
“I was living on the sixth floor of Grenfell Tower as a carer for my uncle, Raffic Menacer. I escaped by myself; no one came looking for me or knocking at my front door. I woke up to the sound of screaming at about quarter to two in the morning. People outside were screaming ‘don’t jump, stay in your flat’.
“Luckily my uncle was in Algeria at the time. I don’t think that either of us would have escaped had we both been there. He’s very sick.
“It took me three or four nights to get into a hotel. The council only called me because I’m my uncle’s carer, otherwise I’d still be staying on people’s sofas. I’ve been staying in a hotel near Marble Arch, coming on for nine weeks now.
“Initially, we were offered a two-bedroom flat in Cricklewood [an area of north-west London around five miles from Grenfell]. I found this completely unacceptable because it’s so far from St Charles Hospital where my uncle has been receiving mental health support for 15 years. Now I’ve been offered a one-bedroom flat for myself in Ladbroke Grove, which I’m happy to take. My uncle is still in a hotel.
“My new home is a ground floor flat, which I asked for. I’m just waiting for the fire brigade to test the fire alarms in front of me and to explain the fire procedures for the building as I’m experiencing flashbacks and nightmares from the fire. I get panic attacks when I even go near a tower block.”
Salma*, 33
“I was evacuated by the police with my husband and three children from Grenfell Walk. My place was a large two-bed maisonette in the flats attached to the base of the tower. We got kicked out of our flat with no explanation as to why we can’t go back permanently and if we want to visit, we need to go with a police escort.
“All I can say is thank God I can speak English or we would probably be out on the streets.
“I’m angry because the residents from the walk are not getting well looked after. The volunteers from the Harrow Club W10 [a community centre] have been our rocks, while the communication with Kensington and Chelsea Council has been s**t.
“They didn’t even tell me that we could go to a hotel, I had to find that out myself. Five of us have been staying in one room in a hotel in Kensington while we wait to be rehoused. We’ve had three housing offers – two out of the borough and one in Chelsea.
“I want to stay in Ladbroke Grove because of our family connections and so that my children’s schooling isn’t disrupted, but maybe not in Latimer Road because there are too many bad memories after the fire.
“I’m a secure lifetime tenant with the tenant management organisation but I’ve been told by my key worker that we might not be able to get another secure tenancy when we get rehoused.
“I’m scared of being made homeless if I accept a shorthold tenancy; it might not be renewed once it’s up. It’s disgusting, it’s like we’re being forced out of north Kensington.”
*name changed at the request of the interviewee
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.