A MAN facing eviction fears this Christmas could be his last in a home his family have lived in for 50 years.
Michael Skinner is one of 163 households served a no-fault eviction notice across five London estates, as Lambeth Council pushes ahead with regeneration plans.
The 33-year-old told the Sun he fears the council turning up to kick him out every day, but he said “I’m not going anywhere”.
Around 500 people are now at risk of being forced out of Fenwick, Central Hill, Cressingham Gardens, South Lambeth and Westbury – just days before Christmas.
Dozens of families have already gone, leaving boarded-up flats, silent corridors and estates locals say are being left to rot on purpose.
When The Sun visited, children’s playgrounds were deserted, furniture was left behind, and once “lovely” communal gardens had their benches removed.
Across Cressingham Gardens, Christmas lights still glow in a handful of homes – surrounded by flats sealed up with steel shutters.
In June, a High Court judge dismissed a legal challenge against the council’s decision to take back over 160 former council homes being rented in the private sector, to instead house homeless families in the most urgent need of support.
But dozens of families have already gone, leaving boarded-up flats, silent corridors and estates locals say are being left to rot on purpose.
The saga has been dragging on for the past decade.
Michael recalled his neighbour being booted early one morning and fears the same thing could happen to him and his granddad.
“My nan died in October last year and at that time when we were grieving they were pushing the no fault eviction on us,” Michael said.
“They are heartless, there is a community here and they are trying to destroy that, we fear being kicked out at any moment after what they did to my neighbour.
“Early one morning they came and threw my neighbour out and his house has been boarded up.
“Despite the empty and falling apart houses in the estate, we are happy and are not letting our spirits be dampened. I am not going anywhere.
“I don’t want it to be my last Christmas here, but of course I worry it could be if they seriously enforce the notices.”
Just around the corner, Alex Freitas, 33, says he fears this could be his last Christmas after seven years in his home.
He claims occupied flats are being neglected to push residents into agreeing with demolition plans.
Alex said: “They have let everything go into disrepair because they want us all gone.
“I fear that this could be my last Christmas in this house.
“I started to decorate inside, but now I don’t know whether to continue because we could be kicked out before Christmas.
“There is a lot of anxiety because nobody knows what their own future looks like, we do not want the estate to become derelict and people to give in to them.”
For young families, the uncertainty is even worse.
Sophia Dos Santos, 27, moved into Cressingham Gardens just six months ago – but says her flat is riddled with mould, despite her two-year-old daughter having a mould allergy.
She said: “My daughter is on steroid cream and I am super concerned for her health I want the council to stop allowing the place to fall apart and force us out and just sort the situation.
“A bit of me wonders whether moving would be the easiest solution because they aren’t sorting people’s problems, it’s ridiculous.”
Neighbours also told how leaking roofs have been patched up with nappies, while domestic violence victims have been placed in estates that are rapidly emptying.
One mum, who asked not to be named, said eviction would tear apart the stability her family has only just found.
She said: “We have only really recently became settled here.
“Our children are at school and have made friends, so the fact we could be moved on again is just frustrating, a backward step.
“My neighbours here at Cressingham Gardens are really lovely, it feels safe, and we feel really lucky.
“But if they keep forcing people out then we will have to go, I don’t want to be on a derelict estate, I like the community here.”
On the nearby Fenwick Estate, long corridors of empty flats show just how far the exodus has gone.
One woman described the atmosphere left behind, saying:”It feels really eerie here.
“This once used to be full of people.
“The old saying ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ couldn’t be more pertinent but so many have already left.
“Walking around the empty flats feels really creepy.
“It’s what I imagine the aftermath of Chernobyl looked like, really weird, where there was once life but now nothing is really.”
Despite the criticism and concern form the locals, Lambeth Borough Council maintains they are “rightly taking back” the properties.
A spokesman said: “We are rightly taking back former council homes – originally lost through Right to Buy – to use for those in urgent need of housing, rather than leaving them to be rented on the private market
“These properties were rented to private tenants, at market rents, on a fixed-term basis.
“This was only ever intended to be for the short-term.
“We have been in regular contact with these tenants and offered them support to help find alternative accommodation.
“In the face of a desperate shortage of social housing, the council is determined to build the new housing our communities desperately need.”
