Nurses lived in disused hospital after racist attack

Nurses who were forced to permission an property successful County Antrim successful July aft racist intimidation spent respective weeks surviving successful a infirmary with their children.

BBC Spotlight visited the disused gathering tucked distant successful a country of Whiteabbey Hospital, turned into the astir basal accommodation.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) did not archer the nurses, connected impermanent visas, that they could use for enactment for exigency housing.

The NIHE told Spotlight it was not permitted to springiness "immigration advice".

Eight families, primitively from Africa, fled the Ballycraigy property aft a fig of racist attacks.

Anti-immigration posters were taped to the windows of immoderate properties, portion others had a ample achromatic X spray painted crossed them.

Several car windows were besides smashed.

At the time, 1 of the families told BBC News NI: “Even erstwhile we were looking for accommodation, no-one told america that this was a no-go area.”

Three of the nurses and their families, including young children, lived successful the disused gathering successful Whiteabbey Hospital successful Newtownabbey earlier uncovering accommodation.

Spotlight has spoken to families disconnected camera arsenic they accidental they are inactive excessively acrophobic to talk publically retired of fearfulness of reprisal.

In the plain, sparsely decorated country they were utilizing arsenic a lounge, a games console successful beforehand of the tv is simply a reminder that children had been forced to unrecorded there.

When they initially fled their privately rented houses connected the estate, immoderate turned to the NIHE for imaginable support.

The NIHE told them that their impermanent visas meant they were not permitted entree to nationalist funds and truthful could not get exigency accommodation.

But erstwhile Spotlight asked the Home Office, it said radical connected impermanent visas tin use for exigency enactment if their circumstances person changed.

In effect to questions from BBC Spotlight, the NIHE said it could not connection migration advice.

"Our relation is to find eligibility for lodging and homelessness assistance," a connection added.

It besides said it utterly condemned the attacks connected the families successful Ballycraigy and would play its portion successful tackling contention hate.

The Northern Trust Chief Executive Jennifer Welsh described the attacks connected wellness work workers arsenic "deeply distressing".

"Sadly determination person been a fig of incidents successful caller months wherever members of our unit person been subjected to radical maltreatment and felt threatened," she said.

"This is wholly unacceptable. I privation to nonstop a beardown connection that our full workforce has my enactment and the enactment of our community.

"We volition proceed to connection our enactment to immoderate members of unit who person been impacted by these caller events.”

One of those who tried to enactment the nurses was Takura Makoni, argumentation serviceman astatine the African and Caribbean Support Network.

He besides moved location after being subjected to racist graffiti earlier this year.

He told the programme: “I privation you to effort and ideate if abruptly each healthcare idiosyncratic from different state was to spell backmost to their ain country.

“Are you telling maine those lads who are throwing bricks into the windows are going to get jobs arsenic nurses and commencement taking attraction of their ain mums and nans?

“Because they won’t bash it. That’s wherefore radical are getting connected planes to travel and bash those jobs.”

• Spotlight: Summer of Shame is connected BBC One NI connected Tuesday astatine 22:40 BST and volition beryllium disposable connected BBC iPlayer.