A migrant couple living off of taxpayer funds claims they are being ‘neglected’ despite being offered a new five-bed home and receiving more than £100,000 ($110,000) a year in benefits.
Immigrants, Arnold Mballe Sube and his wife Jeanne, 33, were accused of being greedy after saying their four-bed property wasn’t big enough for their eight children.
The Cameroon-born father had turned down two previous homes offered by the council as he said they were too small as the family couldn’t eat together. They immigrated from Paris in 2012 with their eight children and lived in a three-bedroom home that cost the state nearly $20,000 a year.
When they were offered a home with two more bedrooms, Arnold declared the house was not big enough for their family. He even called it “the worst place they have ever lived.”
“Me and my family have been neglected,” Arnold explained. “We are in a three-bedroom house. It’s so cramped and the conditions are terrible. The council is trying to make things hard for us. My wife is a full-time mother and I am a student. They’re just making excuses. We need a five or six-bedroom house with double rooms to comfortably fit in. We have developed depression, anxiety, which we were on medication for. The area is the worst I have lived in. This is the worst house.”
Arnold, who studied mental health nursing at the University of Bedfordshire, explained that they rejected the five-bedroom house because there “wasn’t space for the things of 10 people”
“People have to realize we are in the middle of a national housing crisis,” Councilor Tom Shaw said. “We have more than 10,000 people on the waiting list and 1,000 in temporary accommodation. This family are living in a large three-bed house. We managed to find them a large four-bed house and then a five-bed, which they turned down.”
“We can’t be any more sympathetic. We can’t just magic the property people want out of thin air,” he added.
“There are not many five-bedroom council houses in Luton and they were lucky to be offered one,” added Michael Garrett, the Conservative leader of the council in England. “I haven’t a lot of sympathy for them.”
But after being warned that he might be making his family intentionally homeless, Arnold snapped up the final offer of an “executive” detached pad valued at £425,000 ($471,000).
Arnold and Jeanne both have smartphones, a laptop, with a 60in flat screen TV and Sky HD box in their front room, plus a 52in telly in their bedroom. Their children also have a TV and an Xbox with dozens of games.
According to Opposing Views, the neighbors were outraged by the ungrateful couple’s demands.
“They’ve got some cheek. I’d bite the council’s hand off if they offered me a five-bed house,” one neighbor told The Sun. “They’re too fussy and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“I think it’s a disgrace,” said another. “There are people out on the streets in the city (center) and ex- soldiers with nowhere to live. It is a struggle but don’t go on and moan about it.”
The family also suffered harsh criticisms from the Internet users.
Facebook user Nancy Knaus wrote: “When I came here I worked for every thing I got. I had pride and was glad I did it on my own. Stop complaining as it is the taxpayers money you get. You left your country for a better life. Step up to the plate and provide for your family!!”
“You should be grateful for a five bedroom put three kids in each room be grateful people I don’t even have that,” commented Theresa Gaeta Salas.
Sources: OpposingViews, Express, The Sun