Only 1 in 10 Grenfell families have taken up offer of new housing
Just one in ten households from the Grenfell inferno have accepted offers of new housing three weeks after the disaster.
Only 14 from 139 have agreed to move to flats from hotels or relatives where they have been staying since being evacuated from the tower and surrounding area.
some rejected offers because they did not want to be rehoused within sight of the charred remains of the block – which they called a ‘giant tomb’ holding the remains of relatives and neighbours.
Others wanted to wait for an offer of permanent accommodation rather than have to move twice, and some said the new homes were too far from their home area and children’s schools.
A further 19 families have so far declined to discuss housing offers because they are still dealing with the grief of losing their loved ones or at the bedside of those injured in the blaze, officials said.
sid-Ali Atmani, who lived with his family on the 15th floor, turned down the offer of a two bedroom flat in Harrow Road, North London. He said it was too far from his children’s school and in the wrong London borough.
‘the place is not suitable for us,’ he told BBC Radio 4. ‘ We don’t know the area. Plus it’s two bedroom. We are entitled to three bedroom.’
‘the housing assessment know our situation and know what we demanded.’
He said the main problem was with council workers not following procedure and lacking the required ‘knowledge or skills’ to deal with residents, some of whom didn’t speak English. He added: ‘We are not the criminals here, the crime has been happening in the building.’
His daughter wept as she remembered how her friends and neighbours died in the blaze. Hayam Atmani, ten, told the BBC that she finds it ‘hard to sleep’ and has ‘ nightmares about if it happens again’.
she added: ‘Most of the people in my building, they were very close to me, and they were like family. seeing them go wasn’t good.’
survivor Rita tankarian turned down one flat because it was in the shadow of Grenfell tower, and has not heard from the council since. she said: ‘the council has made no contact with me for over two weeks.
‘they offered me a flat in Ladbroke Grove but I don’t want to look up every day and see what’s left of my destroyed home. I can’t look at that tower anymore.’
After the disaster, theresa May promised housing would be offered to those in need by yesterday. the Grenfell Fire Response team said that the obligation had been met, but the situation was more complex than simple offers.
Eleanor Kelly, a spokesman for GRt, said: ‘It is about going at the pace of each individual fam- ily as to what it is that they want for themselves.
‘that’s why you can’t put a timescale on it, because it is not about numbers and it’s not about rushing people to meet targets.’
some families had received up to four offers of temporary homes but wanted a permanent home, she told BBC Breakfast.
Police say they have recovered the ‘last of the visible human remains’ following the blaze which is believed to have killed at least 80.
Commander stuart Cundy, who is overseeing the Met’s response to the fire, said ‘87 recoveries’ had been made, but ‘ the catastrophic damage’ meant ‘that is not 87 people’.
twenty-one bodies have been formally identified by the coroner and their families informed.
Mr Cundy said there were 23 flats where ‘we have been unable to trace or speak to anyone who was in those properties. We assume…no- one from any of those flats survived.’
Yesterday, Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox opened and adjourned the inquests of two victims sheila smith, 84, and Vincent Chiejina, 60.
In both cases the provisional cause of death had been given as ‘consistent with the effects of fire’.
Around 64,000 families who own the model of Hotpoint fridge freezer which caused the Grenfell fire are still waiting to be told whether it is safe.
Whirlpool, the us giant which owns Hotpoint, has conducted a preliminary investigation. Households with models FF175BP and FF175BG have been advised to keep them on to avoid food poisoning. Whirlpool said it had ‘requested further access [to the fridge] to undertake full and rigorous examinations’.
‘They were like family to me’