Almost three weeks on from the horrific Grenfell Tower fire, at least one former resident is still having rent taken off them it’s been claimed.
According to a campaign director, who is representing the survivors of the tragedy, a resident who obtained a new bank card found that rent had still been deducted from their account, The Independent reports.
Yvette Williams, who is a coordinator for Justice4Grenfell told Radio 4’s Today programme the shocking allegation, with Tory councillor Catherine Faulks initially calling the rent deduction a ‘tiny thing’.
She quickly backtracked on her words and said she was ‘very sorry to hear that’ and could ‘understand it’s very distressing’.
Catherine said:
Oh come on, that’s a tiny thing — I mean it’s not a tiny thing for them it’s a huge thing and it’s very upsetting. But the council are in the process of trying to house 400 people. They’ve got people in hotels, they’ve got a social worker for every single family who is triaging them into a wraparound service.
I’m very sorry to hear that’s happened, but that person to whom that has happened will have one person connection they can go to to sort it out. I know you’re hearing a lot of noise about nothing happening but actually, on the ground there is a lot of hand-holding going on and I haven’t heard anyone in the media speak to someone who is receiving that help.
This news came after the Tory leader for Kensington and Chelsea council, Nick Paget-Brown, resigned saying he accepted a ‘share of responsibility’ for the ‘perceived failings’ of the local authorities.
The council were heavily criticised in their response to the Grenfell tragedy, which claimed the lives of at least 80 people, after days of seemingly no or little support for those families who were left homeless after the fire.
Our thoughts are remain with those affected by this tragedy.
