Within a week, my car was broken into. There was music all hours, people in and out. Then the smell came through. Cigarettes, cannabis, then something harsher. My kids started getting headaches.” Jenny* has lived in Perivale, a west London suburb once nicknamed “Nappy Valley” for its safe streets, family-friendly feel and quiet gardens, for 20 years.
That changed for her in 2021, when the house next door was bought by an investment company and converted into an HMO (house of multiple occupation) which housed a mix of British residents from troubled backgrounds. In recent years, there has been an explosion of HMOs, with the soaring cost of living in the capital meaning that many cannot afford to rent a flat themselves. Now, asylum seekers are likely to overwhelm a system already at breaking point.
