A
big thank you to the Sunderland Resident’s Association I met today. All
of whom you would describe as the 'Salt of the earth'. Men who had worked all of their lives and were proud to live
as part of a local housing association. Indeed they stated that they felt
privileged to live where they did. They acknowledged the good work of the
local Police Community Beat team and were grateful for their efforts in
ensuring that they lived in a safe and orderly place. However they told
me a tale, which even now I find incredulous! Local residents had smelt a
strong smell of 'happy baccy' in the vicinity and the police raided one place
in particular. It was a younger resident and inside his home was found
masses of cannabis plants. He was arrested but little happened to him as
he said they were for his own use!! Unbelievably he was allowed to
keep his home, which was a social housing home under the auspices of the local
housing association. Guess what?...A few months later the police were
back at his home and once again they found another cannabis farm. He was
arrested once more but this time he went to court and as far as the residents
are aware he received a 'slap on the wrists’. This is the bit I cannot believe...the
housing association gave him the keys to his rented home yet again!!! Meanwhile
one of the retired residents a man who worked all of his life in the shipyards
and on a state pension of £110 per week was sent a reminder of arrears by the
same association for 52p!!!
I
have not been able to corroborate these facts at present but if correct it
staggers belief. Needless to say I believe the correct course of action
to take should have been immediate eviction after the first
transgression. No doubt there was bureaucracy, human rights and legal
considerations but I'm sorry this sort of inaction just undermines the honest,
hard working majority of families who reside in the area. We need the
police and the housing associations to work effectively together, to arrest,
prosecute and if convicted seize offender's assets and evict them because as far as I'm concerned and I hope you agree? I believe they have
abused their right to social housing.
Now
I know from my own research it costs about £8k to set up a cannabis farm but
the profits can be as much as £150k! There is an offence under the Proceeds of
Crime Act of 'facilitating money laundering' and I just wonder if the housing associations
ever considered their own liability let alone the consequences of their actions
upon the community. I suspect that
it was the offender’s human rights that were most foremost in their minds. I promised the residents that if
elected I would act to change this irresponsible, institutionalized mentality.
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