“This is not a crack house,” Emma tells her two roommates, as one of them is lying on the floor in the common area of their shared accommodation.
She films them getting high with crack cocaine, to send evidence to her owner.
Emma Costigan, 24, lives in what is called “exempt housing”, which is supposed to help people from struggling backgrounds change their lives.
But a Sky News investigation found evidence that this nationally-used housing system often puts them and others at greater risk, while homeowners reap big profits.
Residents say the surge in exempt housing has left their area full of crime and dirty
Some providers who seemingly have no experience with the care required convert family homes into multi-occupancy properties, then tout affairs in prisons, bringing troubled residents together in quiet suburbs, leaving existing residents describing their neighborhood as “like” live in an open prison ”.
Family communities say they are “under siege” by increased levels of crime associated with this type of shared living, while vulnerable people living on properties are sometimes mistreated or even murdered by roommates.
There are also reports of victims of domestic violence staying with men who have a history of violence. Local councilors warn that some groups that set up this accommodation in leafy suburbs have links to serious organized crime.
Emma currently lives alone but lived on her property with five men in Stockland Green, Birmingham.
She told Sky News: “The majority of them are drug addicts. Some of them have mental health issues. Some are alcoholics.
“There’s a guy recently who overdosed and died in the upstairs house. So there’s a lot going on.”
Emma Costigan says man above her died of overdose
Exempt hosting providers …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-31 11:53:00
