A homeless Folkestone refugee’s makeshift house has been destroyed, despite outcry from wellwishers.
Mohammed Kadir, 40, has been staying in the beachfront building on Marine Walk for the past two weeks.
However, at around 1pm on April 1st, council workers arrived to demolish it, having given him a notice last week telling him he would have to remove his belongings from the “temporary structure” as he was trespassing.
Mr Kadir, originally from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, fled the country to escape violence.
“It was war in the streets,” he told Kent Live.
“I saw people shooting at each other, using machine guns. I had to get out.”
He has been in England since 1998 and has been in Folkestone since 2011.
Although he was homeless when he arrived, after a year and a half the housing association housed him in a flat in Cheriton Road.
Happy to be off the streets, he said he ran into trouble with his two neighbours, suffering racist abuse.
One neighbour in particular, who Mr Kadir said suffered from mental health issues, would physically attack him and the police were called three times in the four years he was there.
Back on the streets
Eventually, he said the issue became too much and in June 2017, in fear of what would happen if he stayed, he left.
“I gave the key back, I had no choice,” he said.
“Nearly every day I had an issue with that neighbour.
“I knew either he would kill me or I would kill him; I didn’t want him to kill me, I didn’t want to kill him.”
Seeing the streets as a safer alternative, he took the few belongings he had and his beloved dog Hooch and began sleeping outside.
While he felt slightly more protected than when he was living next to his former neighbour, he said his new situation still left him in fear, particularly from late-night drunks.
“Homeless people are always facing troubles on the street. You always feel afraid.
“Sometimes people kick them, two years ago someone burned a homeless person while they were sleeping.
“I would just try to find a nice quite place to sleep but couldn’t find one.
“A few times the police would move me along, but I would ask ‘Where am I supposed to go?’”
He said without Hooch, a Rottweiler/Bull Mastiff cross-breed, he would not be alive today.
“I love Hooch,” he said.
“If my dog was not here, I wouldn’t be here.”
Surviving winter
While he credits Hooch with his saving him from physical harm, his loyalty to his dog meant he was unable to stay in winter shelters during the cold winters of 2017 and 2018.
“It was freezing, I just about survived,” he said.
“Three or four times during winter, I was unable to eat.
“Every time I tried to eat, I would get sick. I’m on a lot of medication at the moment.”
As well as experiencing hostility from people in the street, he said he has also been the victim of racist abuse from other homeless people.
Suffering from depression from a young age, his experiences have profoundly affected him.
“When they abuse me, it makes me feel terrible,” he said.
“I hate them and I hate myself as well.”
The construction of the house
Mr Kadir said that some friends who had seen him on the street and were aware of his situation offered to put in some money to build the makeshift house for him on the beachfront spot in Marine Walk.
With a wooden front and door, fitted windows and tarpaulin roof, he finally had some protection from the elements, as well as a small garden area with potted plants next to it.
He said he has had overwhelmingly positive responses from passers-by.
“Everyone here is nice, people will ask ‘Do you want food? Do you want water?”
“Little kids love the garden.
“People treat me 110 per cent differently to how they did when I was on the street.
“While I was on the street, I was homeless, here I was no longer homeless.
“People can see I’m not an alcoholic, I’m not a druggie, they see my dog is friendly so they know I’m friendly.”
Demolition
However, last week he returned home from walking his dog to see a notice on his door telling him he was trespassing and would have to take his things away before the house was demolished on April 1.
Council workers, flanked by police, arrived in the afternoon to tell him to take what belongings he wanted so the house could be demolished.
In a little under an hour, it was destroyed, with some pebbles from the garden the only sign that a home was ever there.
Some who witnessed the demolition voiced their disapproval.
Mandy Tanner, who is in her late 50s, said she has seen Mr Kadir during the past few weeks while walking her dog.
“When I saw he was being told to go, I thought ‘How bad is that?’
What harm is he doing?
“He made that garden better, all the kids and everyone who comes by stops to look at it.
“It makes a big difference. You can appreciate when the wind gets up, the rubbish from the bins blows all over.
“I’ve seen him picking up rubbish that’s not even his. When he’s walking his dog, I’ve seen him pick up other people’s dog’s mess who have left it.
“He doesn’t have to do it. He’s been a benefit to the area.
“I don’t get it, why move him? And everybody I’ve spoken to feels the same.”
Russell Perry, 36, said he too has experienced homelessness and currently has to sofa surf and sleep at his parents’ house.
Mr Perry said: “He was sorting himself out here. He wasn’t causing anyone any problems.
“I can’t believe they’re doing this. It’s unbelievable.”
Council statement
A council spokesman said: “The council has today removed the structure that was illegally built on the beach promenade. We gave the occupier notice that this would happen and gave him the opportunity to remove it himself, but as he did not we had to act.
“The council has an obligation to look after all of its landholdings and cannot make exceptions. We have a legal obligation to ensure that all public rights of way and open spaces are safe for residents and visitors to enjoy, and that homes are fit for habitation with running water and toilet facilities.
“We will store the occupier’s possessions ready for him to pick up, and will continue to work with our partners including Porchlight, the Rainbow Centre and Sanctuary Housing to find him suitable alternative accommodation.”
Where will he go now?
To make matters worse for Mr Kadir, he said that two days ago, he discovered the tent he had been storing in a spot he had previously been staying had been set alight.
He said he would happily be housed anywhere in Kent which would take him and Hooch.
In the immediate term though, he does not know where he will go and will spend tonight sleeping on the seafront.
“I feel sick, I fell terrible,” he said.
“I was finally happy. I have never been happy in my life like I was here.
“It’s the first time I’ve been happy and they want to make me homeless again.
“I am a human, why are you always telling me to move, move, move?
“Where am I supposed to move to?”
By Sean Doherty
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