False doors and windows are being stuck on £1 houses in our ‘apocalyptic’ city
FAKE windows and doors have been plastered in abandoned houses, giving city residents the feeling that their home is haunted.
From a distance, some houses in Horden, County Durham, look perfect with beautiful curtains and classic front doors.
7
7
7
But as you get closer, the windows and doors are a facade: pieces of plastic to disguise the empty and dilapidated houses.
Locals now say Horden is some sort of ‘ghost town’ or ‘hell hole’ populated by ‘drug addicts’.
Full-time mother Sarah Smith, 32, is pregnant and desperate to escape the village before her baby is born.
Her terraced house is located between two vacant houses, both of which have been broken into.
She said: ‘The fake windows and doors are supposed to make the houses look better but they don’t work.
“How can a fake window look better than a real one? All they do is make it harder for people to break into.
‘The drug addicts are not fooled by it, they are not stupid.
“It’s too dangerous for my daughter, and she’s with my mother. The house needs repair after repair.
“Houses are being burned. They’re putting things through your mailbox in an attempt to set your house on fire.
‘The fake windows and doors don’t help anything.
‘People know they are fake. All they do is make it harder for the drugs to break in.
‘Nobody has a job here. The only job they have is to drink 24/7 and go crazy and steal to support their addiction.
‘I go out of the neighborhood to shop and visit family. There’s nothing here. It is forgotten, not cared about. It’s hell.’
Durham County Council describes the stickers as “decorative skins” used to cover properties that are uninhabited and in a state of disrepair.
Horden seems largely deserted and the residents speak of an eerie ‘ghost town’ during the day in a village that comes alive at night with antisocial people and ‘drugs’.
The drug addicts are not fooled by it, they are not stupid
Sara Smith
Residents are attracted by cheap rental prices, while landlords buy properties for an average of £40,000, with some homes selling for as little as £5,000.
Full-time mother Liza Chapman, 45, said: “The fake windows and doors look horrible.
“I don’t really see the point of them.
“I have no idea why they did it. I’m a little baffled by it.
“I think the area actually looks worse.
“The municipality should put some money into helping the homeless, they should renovate the houses.”
The village was once a thriving mining community, but has struggled with unemployment and a stagnant housing market since the mines closed in 1987.
For decades, Horden Beach was a dumping ground for coal waste and one of the most polluted in the world.
Unemployed Thomas Galloway, 30, said there was now nothing for children in the city to do.
‘They use drugs, break into empty houses and destroy everything.
The fake doors and windows make the room look a little neater. At first I thought they were real.
Aleisha Summerhill
‘It should keep the community looking tidy and prevent windows from being smashed.
‘It does not work. There are many smashed windows.
“The landlords have no problem making the houses nice because the rent is so cheap. It’s a vicious circle.”
Full-time mum Aleisha Summerhill, 23, added: “The fake doors and windows make the room look a bit tidier. At first I thought they were real.
‘They should do the same with all vacant buildings.
‘It’s not the best place to live.
‘There are a lot of drugs and anti-social behaviour.
“It feels quiet during the day, but don’t let that fool you. At night it’s a completely different place.
“There will be fighting and shouting in the streets. It can be a nightmare.
“I’m trying to get out of here.”
Michael Kelleher, head of planning and housing at Durham County Council, said: “We are pleased that the friendliness and warmth of the people of Horden was picked up by visitors in this video.
“We of course recognize that the village, as is the case with many communities across the country, is not without challenges.
“That is why we are determined to do everything we can, with the resources at our disposal, to enable recovery and support community projects for the benefit of local people.
‘We also continue to look for funding to do more, including the opportunities that decentralization offers.
“Under phase one of our Horden Masterplan, we are investing more than £6 million in new and existing homes, with the aim of providing warm, safe and affordable housing for local people.
“Through the services we provide, and by working with other agencies through our Horden Together project, we aim to tackle issues that matter to local people, including crime, drugs, health, housing and the environment.
“Through our selective licensing system in the village, we seek to improve conditions in rental properties and tackle problems caused by absentee owners, for the benefit of residents and the community.
“Over recent years we have worked with landlords to provide decorative skins for doors and windows of vacant properties, to improve their appearance and security; Residents told us this has had a positive impact on the community.”
We live in a once thriving seaside resort where houses now sell for as little as ‘£1’
Horden was once home to Horden Colliery, which set a record for the most coal mined in a single day, with 6,758 tons extracted on 9 May 1930.
The colliery, which was famous throughout Europe, closed in February 1987 as Britain’s coal mining industry declined.
The once proud mining village, located 25 miles south of Newcastle, has suffered a sad decline in recent decades and is now littered with abandoned, boarded-up houses.
The area has now become so undesirable that some houses are now for sale for as little as “£1”.
7
7
7