Angry tenants have vented their frustrations at “being sold down the river” after being targeted by youths at their temporary accommodation in Charleston.
Around 30 former residents of Blackwood Court turned out at St Peter and Paul’s Church on Byron Street to meet representatives of Margaret Blackwood Housing Association (MBHA) for updates on their “nightmarish” situation.
The tenants have been in exile since they were relocated to new-build accommodation in Charleston in 2008 while redevelopment took place at the Glamis Road site.
Despite saying they would return to a purpose-built complex, the association cannot take the project forward due to a lack of funding caused by the recession and residents face a further three-year wait.
The tenants, many of whom are disabled, are desperately unhappy, citing anti-social behaviour as a big problem.
One resident’s budgie died of a heart attack after someone screamed through her letterbox and other incidents have left most tenants afraid to leave their homes.
One resident, Susan Stewart, told The Courier she feared for the safety of her five-year-old son after discovering used needles in her front garden.
She said, “Most houses in Charleston have security fencing around them but apparently they ran out of money to finish ours.
“I’ve witnessed a break-in from my own home and there was a drugs raid just round the corner last week.”
Tenant Donna Brown said the area was in dire need of CCTV cameras.
She said, “There’s lots of green space nearby for them to play in but they insist on playing on our street despite there being ‘No Ball Games’ signs everywhere.
“The police come and chase them away but they keep coming back and they won’t take a telling. They do it for the chase.”
She added, “Cars have been destroyed and every night we dread it.Panic attacks”On Fridays and Saturdays it gets worse and my husband has started having panic attacks and he is too afraid to go out. It isn’t even summer yet.”
Blackwood Court Residents’ Association chairman Ally Melville claimed MBHA had “sold them down the river.”
He said, “We were told we’d be back in two years and they haven’t even demolished the complex yet.”
An MBHA spokesman told the residents, who were against the move from the start, that at present they were unlikely to return before 2015 three years more than they initially thought.
He said, “It is fair to say that we are getting frustrated by the lack of progress.
“We know we have funding earmarked for 2012/13. For the funding that we already have, we have to restate our claim every year.”
He added, “Our aim is to start building in 2013 and we would be looking at, to build 35 houses, 15 months.”
In a bitter pill for the residents, the empty shell to their former homes is draining MBHA’s resources.
The spokesman said, “We are losing money on the existing building. We have ongoing maintenance costs and so long as there is an empty building on the site it will continue to be that way.
“From my point of view, for the business, we have to move the plan forward.”