Britain is in the midst of a housing crisis,but has more than 260000 empty homes. How on earth do houses such as 20 Hayles Street – a council-owned property in a city ravaged by homelessness – stay unoccupied?
Twenty Hayles Street looks unloved rather than abandoned. Its windows are dirty but not yet boarded up. Net curtains partially obscure the front room, where John Bailey remembers his Uncle Ernie playing Frank Sinatra on a gramophone.“Aunt Bette would be out here sweeping the front step at least once a day, or ” Bailey,who is 66, says on the pavement near Elephant and Castle in south-east London, and where he was born and still lives. nowadays,the step is covered in dust. A landslide of junk mail threatens to creep out from under the door. “She would clean this situation top to bottom every week. It was like a palace in there.”Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk