A family of Somali refugees have sparked a row over council housing when they were given a £2 million taxpayer-funded mansion have been moved out, into a £1.3 million semi around the corner.
Jobless Saeed Khaliif and his wife Sayida and their family prompted an uproar in 2011 when they moved into one of the most costly properties ever to be financed by housing benefit but it has now surfaced that the family have now left the six-bedroom property in West Hampstead, north-west London, due to variations in the welfare system.
However, campaigners have been left additionally outraged after they were given a home worth £3,000 a month in rent in an up and coming area of the metropolis and it’s understood that Mr Khaliif hasn’t worked since he appeared in Britain in 2008.
The family were originally housed in a £1,000 a month property in Coventry, West Midlands but they created outrage when they decided they would sooner live in London and were given the keys to the huge house not far from the homes of pop star Boy George and movie director Ridley Scott.
Their case was one of a number which revealed just how much was being paid out for housing benefit and provoked the government to cap benefits at £500 a week for couples with children.
And after the limit was imposed, Camden council moved the couple and their reported eight children into a new home in up and coming Cricklewood, where the neighbours said the house sustained notable restoration before the family were moved in.
The council had given them a house of extravagance and spent thousands restoring it before they moved in and where it was restored to a particularly high standard with open plan design, high spec kitchen and slate patio.
They don’t open the door to council workers and it’s not right that some people are given so much for free when others are struggling.
The council own the property and is said to keep rents inside the benefit cap, while comparable homes in nearby streets command amounts of up to £3,000 a month.
The welfare system is meant to be a safety net for those who are struggling, not a comfort blanket and hard-pressed families struggling with their bills will be enraged at such an exorbitant amount being spent on housing a single-family in one of the most costly areas in London.
It’s understood the couple are entitled to such a huge home because two of their children have disabilities and Camden Council uses council housing to help families who can prove they need assistance finding a genuinely affordable home and for many their tenants require help because they have special high-level support need like illness or disability.
And usually, the support needs of tenants are neglected in discussions about social housing and also, London’s economy depends on having access to a wide base of labour from the highly experienced and professional to more commonly lower qualified and lower paid.
And that the provision of affordable housing is crucial to meeting this Labour demand in addition to the responsibilities helping vulnerable families suffering illness and disability.
But Douglas Carswell, the UKIP MP for Clacton, attacked the Government and stated they were mad in allowing Mr Khaliif to be subsidised so heavily.
This Somalian individual and his family are getting all this money but then some have been paying into the system all their lives and also have children with special needs but can’t get a penny in support.
At the house, no one from the family was prepared to comment, yet we have a world of freeloaders that are welcomed to the United Kingdom to succeeding Governments and EU open doors with more immigrants, no wonder the lady is grinning so broadly, laughing at us to the bank.
So, it’s true the streets of London are paved in gold and it’s no surprise that there are 1,000’s waiting across the channel to get into Britain don’t want to claim asylum anywhere else in Europe.
