The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Blaze survivors to be given high-class homes
Priority is to help residents to rebuild their lives
Grenfell Tower fire survivors are to be rehomed in a housing development where prices start at almost £1.6 million, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced, as inquests were opened into the deaths of five people killed in the disaster.
A total of 68 one, two and three-bedroom “social housing” flats have been bought at the Kensington Row development in upmarket High Street Kensington, a week on from the blaze which left at least 79 dead.
A married couple were the latest victims to be officially named yesterday as Westminster Coroner’s Court heard Omar Belkadi, 32, died from inhaling fire fumes, while his wife, Farah Hamdan, 31, was killed by smoke inhalation.
Abufars Ibrahim, 39, died of multiple injuries, while Anthony Disson, 65, and a 52-year-old woman, Khadija Khalloufi, both died from inhalation of fire fumes, the court was told.
Dr Fiona Wilcox, the senior coroner for Westminster, looked tearful at one point during the hearing as she opened and adjourned the inquests.
Earlier in the day a funeral for 23-yearold Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali, the first victim to be identified, was attended by his family and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
In a statement read by a friend after the service at the East London Mosque on Whitechapel Road, his family said he “loved London and loved the people he met here”, and had begun pursuing his dream of studying engineering.
Yesterday also saw the announcement that flats around 1.5 miles from the tower in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea had been purchased by the City of London Corporation in a deal brokered by the Homes and Communities Agency.
The newly built homes are in two affordable housing blocks are on a site where private homes are on offer from £1,575,000 to £8.5 million.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the “expectation is that these new properties will be offered as one of the options to permanently rehouse residents from Grenfell Tower”.
Mr Javid said: “The residents of Grenfell Tower have been through some of the most harrowing and traumatic experiences imaginable and it is our duty to support them.
“Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible, so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.”