At least five people who did not live at Grenfell Tower still being put up in £1,000-a-week hotel
The five have been staying at £1,000-a-week taxpayer funded hotels were given the accommodation after saying they were visiting friends or relatives when the inferno killed 72 people
AT least five people who did not live at Grenfell tower have been staying at £1,000-a-week taxpayer funded hotels meant for people who lost their homes in the blaze.
They were given the accommodation as part of the disaster relief effort last year after saying they were visiting friends or relatives when the inferno killed 72 people.
The cost to the taxpayer has reportedly soared to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The individuals applied to the Kensington council for help with housing, claiming they were unable to return to their homes because of what they had witnessed in West London on June 14 last year.
One student, who said he was visiting a friend on the night of the fire, said: “I didn’t live there but I’m affected like everybody else.”
He has been living in a four-star hotel, with breakfast and dinner included, for more than a year.
After rejecting a studio apartment offered by the council, he said: “ I don’t like being in the hotel. I need to be rehoused in a one-bedroom flat.”
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A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said: “Our absolute priority has always been to help first - it is only right we do so when people are faced with such extreme trauma.
“We will always err on the side of caution and assume all those who come to us for help are genuine.
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