People Are Revamping Derelict Homes To Rent Out On The Cheap

A community group are revamping derelict homes to offer affordable rent for those less fortunate.

East Marsh United (EMU) was formed in 2017 and has since aimed to boost the struggling Grimsby suburb.

So far, the group have transformed three empty homes and are renting them out to families who were previously staying in awful living conditions.

The rent is priced at local housing allowance rates to keep payments affordable - it will cost a family £98.96 per week for the two-bedroom home and £103.56 per week for the three bedroom.

Billy Dasein, 62, who co-founded the group recalled a tenant who was staying in 'unhabitable' conditions.

He told LADbible: "The house that they were living in had no skirting boards and there were huge holes in the carpets.

"It was so damp in one room that they couldn't even use it.

"There was a big hole in the ceiling, the wiring was dodgy and they were expected just to keep paying their rent."

At the time of writing, EMU have raised £269,218 for their housing project and the co-founder has plans to raise half a million to help build 10 refurbed homes.

The former academic says he was, initially 'gobsmacked' by the amount of money they were able to raise.

He said: "I mean, I've never done anything like this before. I'm just gobsmacked that it's even got past the halfway, you know, which it has and it is just astounding to me."

Billy added: "What we're after this time, because it's our first community share offer. We were advised to go for half a million.

"So that will bring those in the region of 10 houses refurbed and online."

The 62-year-old is one of 12 directors at EMU alongside 100 members and the group have set themselves bigger targets to aim for.

He continued: "But our overall plan is not to stop at 10. We want to keep going as quickly as we possibly can and get 100 houses for 100 years.

"If we can get 100 houses, it means we've got 100 families with a good ethical landlord. So we stand with our families, our families are more important than the rent for us, so that always comes first, so they get some love and can actually, you know, set roots down."

The inspiration to make a change came in 2017 when Billy spotted disturbances outside his home.

He said: "There were about 20 to 30 young scowling men openly dealing drugs. And there were all kinds of associated acts of violence and intimidation, and actually arson him for some reason, I don't know why that would happen. But this were making the local paper quite regularly. And eventually it made its way onto the regional news channel."

Billy opted to attend to a local council meeting where he could speak his mind.

He said: "Everything kind of kicked off and there was a big local meeting, where, you know, local people were just frustrated and angry, really, just sort of shouting questions and statements at the local councillor, and nothing was really happening. And so I just started gobbing off really."

That's when EMU was formed.

Billy continued: "And I ran a workshop in the next week or two and 15 people were there, at East Marsh United was born. And literally, we went out on the streets, just cleaning the streets, we've got some beanbags, we took our own brushes and shovels, I just went out cleaning one of the streets.

"And we did another one the week after, and the week after, and so on for about a year and a half, we carried that on.

"We sat together for two hours on a Thursday evening, every week, and started to really learn about what had gone on, what the problems were, and more importantly, what the solutions might be what we could do to actually make change happen."