Human Exploitation

I went to view a property yesterday in Rusholme which is an area known for housing large Indian sub-continent immigrants and thus the main road running through it is nicknamed the 'Curry Mile' with hundreds of Indian restaurants and sweets shops lining the whole street. There used to be non-ethnic shops dotted around 12-13 years ago. These had long been overtaken by Indian catering businesses.

On arriving at the house, I was told by the estate agent that there are people living in the property. This doesn't deter me as from my experience viewing properties, it means that the owner or tenant can show buyers around and answer questions about the house or the area and they are often happy to do so. On this occasion, however, the estate agent was informed that the tenants are sleeping. This was 3pm when we got to the property. The estate agent asked reluctantly whether we want to still have a look at the bedrooms despite people sleeping in them at the time. The other viewer (a woman, also of Indian sub-continent descent but with native English accent) insisted on seeing them. I was hesitant and went inside to see the lounge, the kitchen and the bathroom. I decided not to see the rooms where people were sleeping.

It turned out that there must have been a minimum of 7 or 8 men sharing this 2-bed terraced house so there was no beds. Three or four men were lying the floor with blankets which seem to be used to designate each individual's 'bed'. I am not squeamish about the lack of beds which by my standard is not unusual, even in a cold country. Instead, the property was opened for us by another well-to-do man, again of Indian sub-continent descent driving a red Audi. I cannot say for certain that he was a 'handler' for these young men who work in Sanam restaurant (as gathered by the many plagues in the living room bearing Arabic writings with Sanam Sweet shop/restaurant name written on them in English) but it is quite curious as to what his role was, why he would not answer any of the viewer's questions and we were told that he was not the owner/vendor.

With living conditions such as this, one wonders what immigration status these men are in the U.K. under that they would accept sharing a tiny room of a couple of square meters with 3-4 other men and sharing one toilet with 6 or 7. Life cannot be very comfortable. I know that the notion of comfort can be relative but it still saddens me that people could be so exploited to allow one man a luxury of an expensive car which costs as much as the house that 7 or 8 others squat in and whose combined salary will not be enough to pay a market rate rent in a normal living condition, let alone to afford to buy it. And these men and their handler are probably of the same age and race.

The incident has certainly put me off buying this property which I had thought was occupied under normal circumstances. What will happen to these men when the property exchanges and the new owner wants them out? It has also put me off Indian sweets. The men probably need to make a living and they are probably pursuing their dreams of betting their lives. But they could very well be victims of human trafficking. By patronizing the trade, do you, by proxy, support the human exploitation?