Fury as families told to quit their homes as refugees move into UK village | Politics | News


Six families threatened with eviction by the Ministry of Defence have been told they can stay in their homes after the Sunday Express revealed their plight. But others are still being forced out with just eight weeks to find somewhere new to live.

We found 24 households had been ordered to leave homes rented from the MoD at Henlow Camp, Beds, next to a former RAF base, at the same time as 15 Afghan refugee families were being moved into properties in the same village.

Those told to leave included former soldier Adam Brunetti, wife Michelle and their two children, who were given just two months to quit their three-bedroom house. But Mr Brunetti has now been told they can stay.

He said: “Obviously we are very pleased… but we feel immense guilt because other families struggling with children and pets still have to go.”

Residents still facing eviction include Rachel Start, who came to Henlow Camp to be close to her parents. “Finding somewhere affordable will be extremely difficult,” she said. “We’re all in the same boat, so will be fighting over the same houses.”

Most of Henlow Camp’s properties are owned by a private developer but are leased by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, part of the MoD, which rents them to tenants.

“Deeply concerned” Mid Beds MP Alistair Strathern has written to the MoD.

An MoD spokesperson said tenants rented their homes on a “short-term basis” and had signed contracts making it clear they could be removed with two months’ notice.

The spokesperson added: “Properties leased to families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are done so on a temporary basis and have no connection with the disposal of the site.”



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