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MAKE HASTE
Our historic seaside town is being ruined by ‘DFLs’ – we could go bankrupt & end up housing homeless in our spare rooms
'There’s no rental properties anymore because they’re all on Airbnb'
THE SUN is shining brightly in Hastings and Alison Nicholls should be serving flocks of school children whose only tough decision is whether they want a bubble gum ice cream or the mint choc chip.
But instead – despite this being the half term holidays – the ‘Doughnut Queen’ owner has not served a single customer all day.
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She blames the cost-of-living crisis for making her £3 treats too expensive for most families and says the past summer has been the worst she has ever seen.
The area's council leader is now warning that huge numbers of people can no longer pay rent, forcing over 1,000 locals in the East Sussex seaside town to seek temporary accommodation.
More fortunate residents tell The Sun their house prices have doubled in less than a decade as DFLs - meaning 'Down From London' - rush to snap up properties, either to live in or to rent out as Airbnbs.
Alison, 58, said: “Hastings is still a lovely old school bucket and spade destination for families.
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“We have caravan parks at both ends of the beach and people will come here from far and wide to enjoy your quintessential British holiday – and that’s the market we cater for.
“But it’s been a bad summer for ice cream sellers. I’ve been doing this for four years and I’ve never seen it so bad.
“In June, people weren’t spending money because they didn’t have any. We kept saying, ‘Don’t worry it will be better in July.’
“But July and August were hard because the weather was so bad.
“Now I haven’t sold a single ice cream all day and it’s the half term holidays.
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“The cost-of-living crisis is biting. People come here, look at the prices, and say, ‘£3 for an ice cream? How can you charge £3 for an ice cream?’
“Four years ago, I was charging £1.80 for the same scoop, but prices have gone up so much I should be charging £3.50 really.
“I hate putting prices up – and it upsets me when people complain – but what can you do?
“These are uncertain times we are living through."
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Money is getting so tight here that more than 800 people have been kicked out of their homes after falling behind on their bills, according to Hastings Borough Council leader Paul Barnett.
He says the cost of finding them new accommodation could force the local authority to go bankrupt by March next year.
Councillor Barnett is calling for central government intervention. As a stop gap measure, he has asked locals to consider letting homeless people use their spare rooms.
A recent council report reveals that “unless urgent action” is taken, all of its funds could be used up in seven months.
Councillor Barnett said: “It has gone from 170 people needing temporary accommodation two years ago. Now it is over 1,000 people here. It is a shock.
"We have more than 1,000 homeless people in a town of 90,000. That's a massive percentage.
"We have to find homes for them in Hastings. At the moment we can't find them homes so they often end up anywhere in Kent or Sussex. That's a disaster for them and a disaster for us.
"We are buying homes in Hastings at the moment to keep people near their support networks to get them back on their feet and find long-term, secure accommodation.
"But we need to go faster and we need government help to do that.
“This is a national issue that needs support from the Government. It’s a massive local issue too due to the massive rental market in Hastings.
“It’s not other councils sending people to us, this is the cost-of-living crisis playing out in front of us.
“People can’t afford their homes. It doesn’t take much in terms of people losing a bit of their income and not being able to afford their rent.”
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Walking down the Hastings seafront, it’s not hard to spot the numerous bedraggled individuals that now have nothing more than a thick blanket to house them.
Ice cream seller Alison is one of many that blames the influx of DFLs – which means Down From London - during lockdown for making the average rental property unaffordable.
But she is not a big fan of the council, which she says is refusing to let her paint the faded exterior of her shop pink to attract the Instagram generation.
She said: “They say I can only paint it grey as it’s a listed building, but imagine how much better this row of shops would look with a splash of colour? It’s so frustrating.
“Hastings is changing rapidly and you have to move with the times.
“Since lockdown we’ve had a lot of Londoners move down.
“It’s brought a lot of money into the area. But I feel sorry for youngsters because the people that live here can’t afford to buy their own place.
“There’s no rental properties anymore because they’re all on Airbnb.
“We’re becoming like one of those places where you walk down the street and it’s darkness - all second homes and Airbnb’s and people just come down for the weekend.
“I’ve got a friend on the waiting list for a council property and he’s getting frustrated because he’s been on it for a couple of years.”
Road to ruin
Local Liz Jeffries, 71, worries that the streets of Hastings could be filled with rotting garbage if the council goes bust.
She said: “If it happens, we are going to be in trouble and it will probably affect services like the bin collections.
“The roads here are already in terrible condition and they have to wait until the potholes get really bad until they will do anything about them, because they don’t have the money to carry out repairs.
“The council just doesn’t have enough money. So many people need temporary housing that it’s become a bit of a worry.
“Hastings has always been an economically deprived area. During Covid, when people were working from home, they thought, ‘Why are we living in London when we can move to Hastings and buy a huge house for a fraction of the price?
“Brighton, down the road, is expensive now too as it’s become a little London.
“The result it we’ve had a huge influx of people moving here and it’s driving the house prices up.
“That stops young people from finding a place to live and nurses and others in low-paid jobs can’t afford to pay their bills.
“We call them DFLs, which means Down From London, and we’ve had our fair share of refugees moving here too.
“We want to do our bit but I don’t think we are given any extra money to care for them and you do see quite a number of people sleeping on park benches.
“The upside is that the people from London have brought a lot with them and we have a nice, arty scene down here now.
“The whole town used to be a bit down and out and out, but now you walk down the seafront, and you see the buildings are nicely painted.
“I’m a DFL myself as I moved down here from Wimbledon 20 years ago and I’m so glad I did as we have a wonderful quality of life.
“But I don’t think central government has any idea what is going on down here, or how bad it has become.”
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Lindsey Eriksson runs Nelly’s Café on the promenade and is typical of the influx of young entrepreneurs that are changing the face of Hastings.
Coffees at her wooden kiosk cost north of £3 – so even more than an ice cream – but the more well-heeled customers can afford prices like that.
Lindsey, 33, said: “Our business is so weather dependent. If it’s sunny like today, people come out.
“This summer has been OK for us as we’ve had a couple of nice weeks. There were some days when the whole beach was covered in people and big buses kept arriving bringing more.
“But I know things are getting harder. We have a Sunday roast club where we try to find the best roast in town and a couple of people have dropped out saying they can’t afford it.”
Singing teacher Lindy Unlusan, 44, lives in Hastings with her maths teacher husband Alfie, 46. For them, the influx has had the unexpected bonus of doubling the value of their property.
She said: “Hastings has had the biggest rise in house price rises in the whole of the country.
“We are two of the lucky ones as we bought our place seven years ago and since then its value has risen 100 per cent.
“People have come to realise that this is the sunniest place in Britain. We also have a big LGBTQ community that is increasing in size all the time.
“Our place is within walking distance to the beach and the park and there’s a good sense of community and lots of strange events like the annual carnival.
“There has always been a homeless problem in Hastings, but we love living here.”
A Hastings Borough council spokesperson said: “We are working closely with DLUCH and Homes England to bring more social housing on stream, and we have introduced measures such as buying property for temporary accommodation and hiring more housing officers to deal with the backlog.
“In 2019 we were spending £730,000 on temporary accommodation. In 2022/23 we spent £4.5million, with a forecast of £5.6million for 2023/24.
“We are working to reduce the numbers of people in temporary accommodation in several ways, and these numbers are falling.
“In 2010/11 the council’s net budget was £22.9m. By 2022/23 this had fallen by 28% to £16.5m. During this period direct government support (grants) has reduced from £15.9m in 2010/11 to £1.5m in 2022/23, a reduction of more than 90%.
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Over the last 13 years we have made prudent budget cuts to ensure we stay afloat, and we will continue to do so.
“To help us address the forecast deficit we are bringing forward our budget discussions and consultation to November so we can maximise any savings identified. We have also introduced restrictions on spend for non-essentials for the rest of this financial year.”
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