Survivors of a deadly fire that ripped through an overcrowded east London flat are facing homelessness as council housing support runs out.
The March 5 blaze in Shadwell, believed to have started from an e-bike battery, killed Mizanur Rahman, 41, and around 15 others had to be evacuated.
It destroyed the three-bedroom flat in Maddocks House on Cornwall Street, where it’s understood up to 18 people were sleeping on the night. A criminal investigation has been launched.
Survivors had been provided with temporary accommodation provision by Tower Hamlets council, but that is expected to end on Monday, the Big Issue reports.
Some fear they will be left homeless.
“We didn’t have any family, or anyone to help us. That’s why we’re staying in this place in the first place,” student Nazmush Shahadat told the Big Issue.
“We are not asking for charity or anything, we are saying help us find some place. We are going to pay the rent, we can pay the deposit and everything else, but they are not doing anything.”
Aspiring barrister Shahadat, 23, said survivors had lost important documents to help them find housing, including passports, references and laptops.
“They are not fixing the root problem, the basic problem we were facing before the fire. The worst thing is we are starting from the beginning again. Some of us lost our documents, some of us lost our laptops, our clothes,” he told the Big Issue.
Tower Hamlets council said it has spent around £100,000 providing emergency hotel accommodation and weekly allowances for 17 survivors of the fire.
The total cost for hotel accommodation was £79,520, and financial assistance in the form of Asda vouchers and pre-pay top up cards, has equated to £21,250.
A spokesperson said: “We recognise the extremely difficult situation the survivors of the Maddocks House fire have been faced with, and have done our utmost to ensure they have been supported and their welfare provided for since the fire took place.
“Since 5 March, we have provided emergency hotel accommodation to 17 survivors, a weekly allowance totalling £1250 per person, and welfare support and housing advice. Around £100,000 has been spent by the Council cumulatively.
“Though the Council did not have a legal obligation to offer this continued accommodation and support, we have done so until now under emergency powers to support those affected by the fire.
“We have made sure that everyone has been informed ahead of time regarding the arrangements for the hotel. We have been in regular contact with the survivors and provided as much notice as possible, so they have time to find their own accommodation ahead of the hotel booking end-date.
“We have also done what we can to help signpost tenants to find alternative accommodation, and have been assisting five survivors – who are entitled to recourse to public funds – in finding long-term solutions to their accommodation.”
The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated but it is believed to have been sparked by a lithium-ion battery for an e-bike.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one resident told the Standard in March: “We were all sleeping, someone called me and said get up, get up.
“We saw very black smoke… too much smoke, we [couldn’t] see.”
The man said he was only staying in the flat because he could not find any other accommodation, adding: “Accommodation is very difficult. I am, every day, trying to find a room. I’ve been trying for six or seven months.”
The landlord denies receiving any complaints. He told the BBC he was renting the flat to three people and was unaware 18 people were living in it until the night the fire broke out.
In a previous statement, a council spokesperson said it was working with the Met and London Fire Brigade on investigations into the cause of the fire, “and into the living conditions of the flat”.
Mr Rahman was rescued from a bedroom by firefighters after they were called to the scene at just before 3am. He was taken to hospital but later died.
