For much of the 20th century, the numbered streets of Horden housed a thriving community of mining families who took pride in their small but well-kept homes. Matriarchs would scrub their porches and the streets were clear of any rubbish. Fortunes changed when the local colliery, which was one of the largest in the country, closed in 1987.
Today, many houses in this deprived pocket of east Durham are abandoned. Smashed windows and rubbish-strewn streets are a common sight. In efforts to improve the image of the area, the local council has installed fake doors and windows to cover up the sad state of these once-loved homes.
As the area falls into deeper disrepair and local people continue to leave, there has been an influx of new arrivals: homeless families, many of whom feel they have been forced there by big city councils located hundreds of miles away.
The Guardian spoke to people and families sent up from London after a 24-hour threat of eviction from temporary accommodation if they refused an offer of a private tenancy in the area. Young single mothers and recently recognised refugee families are often those given the ultimatum.
Among them is Faruk (not his real name). He and his nine-year-old son arrived in Horden with little more than a pillow each. After presenting as homeless to a London council, he was told his only option was to accept the private tenancy more than 250 miles away, otherwise he would be making himself intentionally homeless and would receive no further help.
“The council told me if you don’t take this house, you’re homeless. Nobody else, no other council, will help you,” he said. “I wasn’t happy to come here. It’s so far from London. I knew nothing about Horden.”
Faruk has no neighbours. The two homes on either side of him are boarded up. “The council said, if you come to this house you will have everything, it will all be ready.” When he arrived, there was no gas or electricity in the property. He did not know which company, or if any company, was involved in his relocation.
He said a man met him upon arrival and gave him a key, who said he would be back the next day to “help him with everything”. He has not returned.
Faruk is Muslim but the nearest mosque and halal supermarkets are in Sunderland, more than 10 miles away. “It was so hard for me. I didn’t have any friends. No one was helping me, I was going crazy here.”
He is a single father and struggles to speak English, which has hampered his ability to find a job. “When my tenancy finishes, I’m scared I will be homeless again and have nowhere to go.”
He turned to East Durham Trust, a local poverty charity, which he credits with helping him settle into the area. It enrolled him into an English class at a local college and helped fix the problems in his home.
“It’s not giving them a chance. They’ve placed him there with a child who is potentially influenced by his surroundings,” said Georgia Miller, who works at the charity. “He’s going to struggle to get into work. They’re putting these families into areas where there’s not the facilities that they need.”
The charity has seen a recent spate of people sent from London approaching it for help. “It’s been going on for years but now it’s happening a lot more, and it’s becoming a lot more noticeable,” said Helen Waller, who works alongside Miller.
“We had one gentleman, who had been moved up from London, who had severe mental issues. There was no toilet in his property so he ended up defecating in his garden,” said Waller.
Many of the homeless Londoners moved to the area are not white. “Going back, not even that many years, you wouldn’t see many people from ethnic minority backgrounds around here. It was predominantly white. The areas they are putting these families in are not always tolerant. I can imagine them facing racism,” said Waller.
Horden already had its own social problems before the newcomers arrived, with the abandoned homes in the numbered streets becoming secluded hotspots for drug users and dealers. “The majority of people here are decent people but you’ve got a small amount of drug dealers and those on the down and outs. Because it’s such a small place, it stands out like a sore thumb,” said Stephen Rowe, a support officer at the charity.
“Now, you’re getting people moved up from other parts of the country. They’ve got their own vulnerabilities so they’re ideal targets.”
The new arrivals have not only come as a surprise to local people. Durham county council said people had been moved to the region without its knowledge. The north-east is grappling with its own growing homelessness crisis, with the Northern Echo reporting that hundreds of children in the region are living in temporary accommodation.
“We have seen a rise across the board in need. When you bring even more vulnerable people into that space, it is undoubtedly going to add pressure,” said Graham Easterlow, the chief executive officer of the East Durham Trust.
The charity provides a range of services including financial advice, food parcels and call-in sessions for vulnerable people.
“We are a very welcoming place, the community spirit here is massive. But should that be exploited by other councils seeking to inappropriately discharge their housing duty? No,” he said. “Human beings are bearing the cost of this policy.”
In recent years, the north-east has been seized upon by real estate firms and property investors, including those based abroad. They are lured by rock-bottom house prices and healthy rental incomes. Zoopla has crowned the north-east as the best region for buy-to-let investors looking to claw back their initial investment quickly through rents.
There are many good-quality places to live in Horden but the cheap, shoddily kept homes in the numbered streets are usually where discharged families are sent. They are among the vanishingly few properties across the country that are in line with local housing allowance rates (LHA) – the amount private tenants claiming housing benefit are entitled to towards rent.
Homes in the numbered streets are sold at online auction for as little as £16,000. Some streets are almost wholly owned by investors. A two-bedroom home can generate about £5,000 to £6,000 a year on the private rental market.
LHA entitlement for a two-bedroom home in Horden is £5,680 a year, meaning that once occupied, landlords can receive guaranteed rents, footed by the taxpayer, and can usually recoup their investment in about 48 months.
Despite the challenges Horden faces, the village is by no means defined by them. The surrounding area is full of natural and industrial beauty. A short walk from the village centre is an earthy beach with grand, grassy cliffs above. Castle Eden Dene, a national nature reserve, and Denemouth Viaduct are a stone’s throw away.
The council has recently started a project to reuse old coal water to heat the village, a scheme that could be rolled out across the country. Plans are also under way to regenerate the numbered streets, including more than 100 high-quality new homes.
Despite the current state of the numbered streets, much-loved haunts from the area’s glory days still stand. On Sixth Street, where children would play until dusk, the Grade II-listed St Mary’s church sits at the end of the road. Miller was one of those kids.
“My great-grandparents lived in the street. When I was young, we would go once a week. I just remember it being happy times, all the family together and the community was great. Everybody knew everybody,” she said.
While the area was being used to plug a homelessness crisis unfolding hundreds of miles away, Miller hoped it could soon flourish on its own terms. “There’s still lots of good places and things happening in Horden. It would be good if we could fill the houses and have a community back.”
