Hate Crime Targets HMOs in Belfast

On April 2, early Tuesday morning, March 31, around 045 British

summertime, attackers hit several houses in multiple.

Occupation in East Belfast, Templemore Avenue, and Paxon

Street areas.

They smashed windows and sprayed graffiti on the properties, which

house multiple unrelated households, sharing kitchens and

bathrooms.

A green party counselor named Brian Smith called these attacks

racially driven, saying online races are using HMOs as a

flashpoint to fuel hate.

Against immigrants, he pointed to known agitators online

pushing anti-immigrant views.

A family inside one home, including two young girls,

escaped injury, but were left deeply shaken.

Police are probing a hate crime angle, while Smith predicts

the local community feels total revulsion over the violence.

HMOs need council licenses and planning approval to

operate legally, with caps on their numbers in neighborhoods

to avoid overcrowding.

They've shifted from student digs to housing asylum

seekers, as hotels close, sparking debates.

Smith ties this to bigger failures, like not enough social

housing from the storm on executive, and calls for rent

controls to ease pressures before.

Tensions boil over further.