Tenants forced to leave as problems beset hostel
Occupants with mental health issues fear move to new homes
jameswalker@thekmgroup. co.uk Eight vulnerable people were given a day’s notice to move out of a hostel plagued by flooding, water and heating problems.
Tenants left the property run by Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust (Amat), in Hayle Road, Maidstone, on Tuesday.
The hostel has been affected by a loss of water pressure, which has been caused by a rusty lead pipe. This will be replaced today (Friday) and other issues will be assessed.
Its owners, John Smith and Jeremy Overbury, say they are doing everything possible to get the problem fixed.
Some of the occupants suffer mental health issues while others have escaped violence.
They fear the new homes they are moving to could isolate them.
Keith Hann, a 38-year-old who has been rehoused to Chatham, said: “I’m a recovering alcoholic and all of my support is in Maidstone but I had no choice.”
Kevin Finch, 24, moved to the hostel from Medway having been a victim of theft several times in his previous accommodation.
He has been offered a sofa in the communal living area at a sheltered housing complex in Kingsley Road, Maidstone.
He fears this will make him a sitting duck.
Sohail Saleen escaped a violent background in Manchester to live in the county two years ago.
He has been offered a studio flat in Chatham where he will live with his wife, Fadiyah Saleen, but is not happy.
The 29-year-old said: “It should have been fixed. Now I’m being relocated to a place I’ve not had the chance to look at.”
On Friday, a basement toilet flooded, filling a neighbouring bedroom with filthy water.
It forced tenant Terri Barnett to stay with her boyfriend Scott Daly in nearby St Phillip’s Road.
Many of her possessions, including a computer, were destroyed by the flood water and she fears this could worsen her obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dan Hill, a manager with Amat, said: “All tenants have accepted the alternative provision. We have handed it over to the landlord and then we can look to move them back.”