‘We have nowhere to go’
Saturday 3rd January 2009, 9:55AM GMT.
A FAMILY made homeless after one of the Island’s biggest fires destroyed their lodging house last year have until Monday to find a new place to live.
The Sequeira family, who escaped the Broadlands blaze in St Peter wearing just the clothes on their backs, have been told that they need to move out of their temporary States-provided accommodation because they do not have any housing qualifications.
In July, 53 people, mainly Portuguese and Polish nationals, were made homeless after the inferno, caused by a spark from a workshop on the Mont Fallu site, destroyed the next-door lodging house and staff house used by many of the site workers.
Most of the residents were rehoused by the Housing department on a temporary basis and many have now found a new home.
Pictured: The Sequeira family must find somewhere else by Monday
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I may be sounding heartless again but i am just realistic.
The States provided unqualified people housing in a time of need.
Now its time for these people to help themselves.
The fire happened months ago so what have this family been doing since then?
The others have gone out and found alternative accomadation and are now helping themselves to get back on their feet.
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I wonder why i bother paying for household insurance which covers alternative living accomodation should my property become unfit to live in! If i need a new house i’ll go on the news or if i have TV nicked i will go on the news! just get it given to me! saves me money this year!
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I cannot believe how heartless people can be ! Nanny State, these people were living in a lodging house so they could not get any household insurance. They have lost absolutely everything and are now told they are out in the street. Mark, you can tell you have no idea how near to impossible it is to find housing as a non-qually here in Jersey. In your words, “I may be sounding heartless” but I would like to see how fast you could recover from having to start from scratch. These people were not making a lot of money in the first place, otherwise they wouldn’t have been living in a lodging house, would they ? Do you have any idea how much you can do without any money here in Jersey ? The lack of any social welfare system here in Jersey is the reason for these people not being able to help themselves !
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Alphonse Le Gasteloi, The point here is simple.
Help people in a time of need. But there becomes a time when you have to pick up & dust yourself off and get on with life. The people who suffered from this fire have had support from the community (including me) and the States. To sit back and do nothing about getting yourself and your family on track is called lazy. We all pay over the top rents but we all get on with life. You say that i would not recover quickly? Well i would have been looking for permanant accomadation as soon as i was told that i am in temp States accomadation and need to look for permanent accom and even though i rent i have contents insurance!! You say they could not get insurance, well i disagree as you can get contents insurance for as little as £10 per month. Alphonse, i say it again that i am not heartless just realistic and say that these people need to start helping themselves as well as seeking support from the community.
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Why do people come to work for low wages in Jersey, the most expensive place to live in Britain? There are plenty of other places they could go to live, ie the UK where they could rent a place etc.
When it goes wrong we tax payers are always supposed to pick up the pieces for their bad judgement.
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Well said Mark G. A terrible thing to happen to any family but I pay premiums each year for contents insurance to cover myself against losses such as this. Did they not think to do this themselves?
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Alphonse I am not being funny but there are LOTS of non quals accomodation available just need to go and search online yes its pricy but the rest of us can manage it so why cant 4 people manage it?
And before anyone says anything I am non qualified myself. There are double rooms available for about £120-£150/week and if I can manage to pay that on my own it will be half the price each for 2 people.
The fire was a tragic event and my heart goes out to the people involved but it happend a few months ago now and they cant rely on the states to help them out forever. I work 2 jobs to make ends meet and I am sure they could as well until they get back on their feet.
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Do you guys even know the circumstances of these people, do you know exactly what they did during this time, what challenges they had in trying to fix up their lives? It seems to me that none of you have ever had to start from scratch. I have, and it has been three years, and I am still working on my life. You cannot say that they weren’t trying to get things in order, because you weren’t physically near them. Also, instead of passing judgement, and hoping you don’t sound too harsh, you should realize that all of humanity are the many leaves of one branch, in essence, we are all brothers and sisters of the same race. Try having a dose of compassion for your fellow members of your race, the human race.
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