Locals on an unassuming Sunderland street have shared their fury after the community was changed “beyond all recognition” following an influx of asylum seekers.
Residents have claimed the migrants are bussed into properties during the night in “secret”.
A third of the homes on the street, found in Sunderland’s Monkwearmouth district, have been converted into asylum accommodation.
Billy Shergold, who moved to the street 50 years ago, despaired that he no longer recognised what was once his dream home.
The 73-year-old former Merchant Navy worker had grown up in poverty before saving enough to buy on what was then a prestigious street of Victorian terraces.
Mr Shergold explained: “The nature and character of a once beautiful street has gone completely.”
“The sense of community has been destroyed. People fear for their safety.
He continued: “The streets and the area have changed beyond all recognition and it’s reached the stage where people, especially women, daren’t go out at night because of all the men hanging around in the streets.”
Sunderland locals are outraged over the rapid change in their community due to the influx of asylum seekers
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The transformation of the street was made even more galling by the clandestine nature by which asylum seekers were moved in.
“Buses pull up at 2am as people with clipboards direct foreign people to various properties,” Mr Shergold claimed, as per The Sun.
Other members of the community have also spoken up about the changes being imposed on their community.
Craig Smith, 50, said: “We don’t have a say about who is coming to live in our street.”
The Government is moving asylum seekers into private accommodation as part of their pledge to ‘close every asylum hotel’
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Businesswoman Ruth Cunningham, a mother to a young daughter, expressed alarm at the proximity of the influx of migrants to nearby shcools.
“I don’t like it. I have a young daughter. I don’t know what they have come to this country for, or what their past is.”
She questioned: “Why have they put them so close to schools?”
Tracey Harrison-Lascombe, 58, described feeling “intimidated” by groups of migrant men.
Another woman recounted being followed by four men catcalling her.
Following the incident, the local woman has since stopped walking alone and now drives everywhere.
The neighbourhood remains haunted by a 2018 attack when a young woman was abducted from a bus stop and raped in a flat occupied by two asylum seekers.
Saheed Rasoolli, 30, received a 12-year prison sentence while Araz Abdulla, 23, was jailed for 10 years.
One local had sympathy for the Government’s predicament, acknowledging the cost of migrant hotels.
“The Government has to do something about getting these people out of hotels which are eating through taxpayer cash.
“Yes, there are those milking the system but there are also a lot of vulnerable people,” they told The Sun.
Also sparking fury among residents is local private landlords eyeing lucrative deals to turn ordinary homes on the street into HMOs.
Property owners can earn double the amount of rent they would get from ordinary families, as well as free repairs and management, when housing asylum seekers.
The Government have said they are “working closely with local authorities” and “property partners” to fulfil their pledge to “close every asylum hotel”.