What a hand to be dealt; cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, cancer and mental health issues. This type of misfortune makes me question everything. I hope Joanne and her husband get the help and support they need!

Cancer aside, the mold and rodents would make a person of exceptional health extremely ill. This is a horrendous situation.

Irony is these aren't houses - they were seaside chalets for eastenders after the war

These landlords who rent these disgusting properties deserve to be made to live in them!!

Why is the landlord still being paid rent? The council obviously knows what is going on - the letter proves this.

How utterly depressing.

I know this is 3 to 4yrs old by this point but £500 rent is an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!. I wouldn't pay £10 to live in conditions like that it's beyond disgraceful!. No one should be living like that!

my dad used to drive me & my brother around jaywick and tell us that this is what happens if we never get a job or become scroungers - but watching this, i’ve realises that much of it is not even the residents’ fault. the council need to do more for these poor people, more sympathy must be felt :(

Compulsory purchase the slumlord's properties, ban them from renting out in the future and then renovate them as council houses

“Pest control confirmed....they were rats”.....whew...for a moment we thought it may have been a shark. That was a close one!

My heart goes out to these poor people that are surviving and not living. Makes me feel really grateful for the life I have even though I have very little.

You have a seaside location, which is potentially very valuable to developers. Behind closed doors, the local council will be in cahoots with the landlords to run the area into the ground, until it gets so bad that they will be legally able to CPO the properties. The landlords then get paid well over the odds for their property, and the local council then sells the valuable seaside land to the waiting developers, who will then build high end expensive homes and the existing Jaywick residents will be priced out of the area, making them the problem of another Council. Win win situation for the Jaywick local council.

Remember when MPs voted against having standards that forced landlords to have houses suitable for habitation.

Poor Joanne :(. She’s in so much mental and physical pain and it’s just a vicious circle. I know it won’t mean much but I’m sending my love to you and your partner ❤️

I'm very busy at the moment but when I get some time I wouldime to share a positive update meanwhile we would like to thank everyone who helped us and got us to where we are today even the haters I thank u too for making me stronger and empowering me to look at my inner self thank u once again god bless Joanne xx

I’ve been to Jaywick. Got my dog from there when she was a puppy. The people I got her from were a couple with two babies living in abject squalor. It was damn sad.

The only time we shed light on these issues is when there’s an election. The Tories removed the onus that was on landlords to provide decent homes.

Get the rent officers back, and look at the home to see if it fits the rent.

How could people not have empathy for these people?! They are human beings that deserve sooooo much better, so much better! WHY punish poor and disabled people??? It’s disgusting!

Danny Slogett is an amazing person. Wish there were more like him in this cruel world.

1:25 Without the conviction of a pest control proffessional, I can also confirm that these are indeed rats.

I worked in Jaywick for a number of years. It was like stepping back in time to the early 1900's. Its criminal what's taking place including the poor education results for those who live there. Criminal criminal criminal.

Sewage coming up through the sink: that’s a no from me.

This makes me so sad. My great great grandfather made Jaywick and he would turn in his grave seeing it like this. All because he didn’t get the support from the council after the war. He started the town for happy holiday goers. So sad 😩

How can we send millions abroad for aid and leave our own people like this ?

Welcome to victorian england.

I'm horrified that there are STILL, in 2021, people forced to live in these conditions! We're supposed to be civilised! Makes me ashamed to be British.

£500 a month in housing benefit going to a landlord who won’t even fit windows in the property it makes me sick

Now Joanne s been on tv capita will send her a letter saying shes fit work

This is the uk 2019 ! Shame on our government !

This in Great Britain ? The BBC never tells the world about this. Too busy with Trumps policies

I went to Jaywick today. I was shocked. The town is horrendous and has been totally abandoned by the government. There is no law and order there, I struggled to find a house that was adequate for humans to live in. Something must change!

It's really sad to see the state of seaside towns now. When i was a kid i would have loved to live by the sea, having a beach to play on. It was a dream if you lived and worked in places like Leeds and Bradford to retire to Scarborough or Bridlington.

Watching this, has inspired me to take action on a Landlord here in Australia who is refusing to maintain a property.

Nearly £500 a month for that! That's actually got me speechless!

All of us, no matter how much we might deny it, are just a few bad events away from this situation. Mental health problems should never be ignored. They destroy people.

The landlord is responsible, this is degrading and disgusting. Shame on environmental health too.

Landlords have been ripping tenants off for years. Jaywick is a beautiful place l have played at the Eldorado bar with a band called Avalanche for meny years the people are just wonderful 🌞👍 The government need to clamp down on landlords and refund half the rent taken off tenants for years.

Happy positive update I have a nice home now getting right support still alive health still ongoing but always someone worse off I'm starting to gain way 11 weeks and 1 day sober 11 weeks cannabis free today I'm being reunited with my biological daughter who I ain't seen in 27 years when she was baby I study hard passed exams nice clean home good mental state no mental health on new meds for fits slowing getting there learning to walk with splints but it's hard so still very dependant on chair life is great and I feel more positive I still miss jaywick but I'm focusing on my challenges more thank u to everyone and channel 4 news who have supported us I do zoom meeting have counselling now my cancer was diagnosed in wrong places in extent they know properly where it is now but still awaiting biopsies to confirm what stage at I feel more positive covid has delayed things I'm so happy I'm meeting my daughter today happy freedom day stay safe

I've been in a similar position and it's very difficult. Even when I was working I couldn't afford decent housing. I am SO lucky because I was awarded a flat through a housing association 3 months ago. It's a new build too in a nice area. It's lovely because everything works and I have basic things like hot water and a proper bed for example. I love keeping it clean because it looks so nice. However, I did have to move 30 miles away from everyone I know to get this flat because getting housing in your own town is so hard! The answer, like discussed in the video, always seems to be to move people out of the area. I'm still poor and I can't afford heating or a lot of food but I have a secure roof over my head which I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for. I'm also not in debt which is a huge relief. I pay for broadband every month and have just built a website in the hope that I can make enough money in a couple of years to get out of poverty forever. I feel like one of the lucky ones.

This got me teard up, this is unnaceptable in 2019.

Danny has done loads for the community in jaywick .

I watched this show on the TV, and it was so sad people are still living like this.

How so very sad. This was recommended to me during covid. I can’t imagine things are much better now. It makes my mind boggle that we’re searching for evidence of life on Mars when they’re people who live like this.

Look at the mess inside the house the landlord has made, wouldn’t you think the landlord would wash the bedding, and he’s dumped all that rubbish in the garden to attract all the rats. These people need help of course cruel as it sounds they are not capable of looking after them selfs or keeping a house. If put in brand new flats with new furniture they would be back in this state in 5 years or less without support

What a disgusting country we live in. This has to end.

I would not believe it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Love how these politicians and such think it is acceptable for people to live in conditions like this. Britain's shame indeed!

How sad was it watching this video. My Mom’s Great Aunt Rosalie Mary May bought a vacation home here and my Mom born in 1949 used to vacation here with her family until 1963 when they moved to Canada. My Mom has the most beautiful pictures of them enjoying the beach and the streets and shared so many beautiful stories with me. As my Mom is getting older we thought about taking her back to her birthland and visiting all the places she once roamed but after watching this I think it may be better left as a memory. Prayers to all the people affected in Jaywick, the Council should do MUCH better at taking care of it’s residents. Blessings to all!

I've known about Jaywick for some time, its a disgrace that people live like this, it looks post-apocalypic

Me and my wife are also disabled, wheelchair-bound and suffer from depression and we struggle but we try to keep our flat clean and tidy.

Many British people in here discussing this situation. As a Dane, I live in a country, where we also do have derelict places - but not as inhumane and crazy like this. In my opinion, you ought to look to the Scandinavian welfare society, which has been implemented basically since the 50ties. Where a people or a country is today is always the result of actions and decisions made in the past. Many Brits seem to have been indifferent, too uncritical, you could even say "too politically lazy", when times were better. And then this poverty and despair comes back and bites the weakest when times get worse. As I see it, you should never take "the good times" for granted, you have to fight for it. I wish, that some of these brave people in derelict areas like this, could "reinvent" themselves. Could get better education, could learn manual skills, would recycle/repair a lot more, would exercise and get better health care and healthier foods, et cetera. But what we have, are social vicious circles instead. I may step on somebody's toes now, but I think Brexit is a wise step to take, after all. It may hurt a lot more in the short term, but to heal the U.K. from inside seems cleverer than just importing more Chinese junk or cheap European labour. Always ask yourselves, whom does it benefit, instead of going for the shortsighted win. Stop the accident (- although healing may take decades and hurt a lot), and keep jobs and goods/services mainly within your own shores, tear down those houses or repair them with your own hands and building products. Fucking EU, Merkel/Macron, globalisation and China will only made everyone poorer, make the greedy greedier and turn bad into even worse. And again, if you have to import "something", consider it to be the Scandinavian welfare system and thinking. Not perfect at all, but mostly better than this. I hope, Denmark will be able to follow you someday, outside of the EU, and into a greener, cleaner, socially stable society. We can all be good friends in Europe, without being in a forced EU-marriage.

Some of us really don't realise how lucky we are and how much we take for granted.

Absolutely shocking that this is the uk, heartbreaking to see what Joannes going through.

Heartbreaking, I do hope they get the extra help they need

I feel so unbearably sad for Joanne & so angry that this isn’t some unnoticed problem, her local authority knows about this and she is still in this diabolical situation

Here in Australia we have mostly private rentals as there's only about 5% that are government housing. It's highly regulated here. I am always appalled at the UKs housing. Make those landlords and council people live in those houses for a night that should get them doing something

I could never rent a house out that i wouldn't live in myself

My nan lived in Jaywick Sands in the sixties in what was originally intended as a holiday chalet - we loved visiting in the school holidays and I have lovely childhood memories. When I returned many years later for a trip down memory lane, I simply could not recognise the place. It was a complete ghetto by the sea. Hats off to the residents who are acting as volunteer advocates for such vulnerable and exploited people. I don't suppose it is a problem that is exclusive to Jaywick.

I drove round Jaywick a few years ago, I was totally gobsmacked that people actually have to live like this. The landlords should be ashamed of themselves. I really hope the people who live there get all the help they need.

For all of my childhood, I had holidays in Jaywick. Even as a child there was disrepair in the chalets, near the market place. It didn't stop it being welcoming, the residents are great people and the beach is beautiful. It's so sad that people are allowed to buy to rent in filthy condition, why are they not registered landlords? There are hardly any shops in Jaywick and hundreds of residents, so no local jobs and Clacton nearby is in the same situation. Too few jobs, too many residents. Getting employers to invest in the area would help.

Local MP probably owns that ladies house.

It's a a joke where is my tax money going if these poor people are living this way

Excellent documentary. Tackling awareness of social challenges is foundation creating groundwork towards the literal battle hoops governmental representatives and beaurocratic agencies are likely to throw at solutions. Thankyou for your most appreciated work in this regard.

I remember visiting Jaywick its a wonderful location it has a great beach, its shocking they have just left it to become a lawless slum decent housing, public utilities and roads would make it sought after area.

“Pest control confirmed there were rats” well damn, did they control them or nah??? Did they just show up and diagnose them with Rats or are they planning on doing something about it??

So you had to get a rodent control person to confirm that that was a rat?!

I used to holiday here as a kid in the 70’s it was beautiful back then. Shocking to see this 😱

How does this even happen? Jaywick is only 58 miles from London (if Google serves me well). I'm from New Zealand and it is not uncommon for people to travel this distance, or even further, for their daily commute to work. To me it looks like a prime location, right on the sea, so why is it not upgraded to a modern, safe community where people can prosper in a beautiful location? Surely it is just a matter of time until developers discover Jaywick's true worth?

If the council has found 4 cat 1 hazards they have a duty to move her as the property is a risk to life. Poor woman

My heart goes out to that poor, poor woman.....

If everyone was treated the same , the country would be broke.

i was a binman in Jaywick all the side roads along the prom for many years and the people of Jaywick are nice people i knew most of them from my job

Poor Joanne, I sincerely hope their situation improves. Sending my love to her xx

How can this happen to human beings in the 5th richest country in the world? :(

I had many a very happy anual holiday in Jaywick as a child. It was a wonderful place with beautiful beaches, amusement arcades, bingo, pubs, fish 'n' chips, and all the amenities associated with a beautiful holiday destination. I often stayed in the so called car avenues where most of the people currently on benefits now reside. It has reached this point of desperation because no one in authority has given any serious attention to this terrible situation, and the government has allowed this erstwhile beautiful coastal attraction to become a dumping ground for people with social and mental incapacities.

Heart breaking it makes you appreciate what you have

I’m a landlord and I would not allow my house to get in that state.

The council can “knock on the door” to check standards since they are supporting these landlords in continuing paying top up rents.

I have to laugh, This was my childhood holiday destination !!! This was grim...then...On arrival I distinctly remember the old brown wardrobes containing old grey blankets that stunk of mildew !! Holiday was cut short when my elder sister 12yrs old Threw herself off the Clacton pier !! In an attempt to kill herself...

All these negative comments about those tenants seriously can't understand that about 70% of those run down houses were derelict and condemned after a fire or a flood. They were then purchased and "rebuilt" over the underlying problems still there, such as mold, flood and fire damage. Sewage and plumbing problems are also not unheard of. But to try cleaning up raw sewage, and mold being caused by a leak is not easy to do. The plaster becomes weak and moldy, the floors weakened with the water damage, walls chewed through caused a rat infestation, and running water is a hazard. The slumlord landlords don't live close by, they sit and collect their cheque. They probably have the tenants thinking they're at fault, and threaten legal action. They don't want to fix the problem entirely, so they keep collecting rent. Some of those houses predate WWII. I know this because I have family that's lived in Jaywick for over 25yrs. All the roads are named after cars, because in the 1930's there used to be a motor racing track. It was a Butlins holiday park. Before my family moved there full time, they had caravans in Tower Holiday Park. Back then it was a great family place to be. Going to the Pink Palace Amusements, bingo at the Ravens Club, Karaoke at Brooklands, and a pint at El Dorado or the Sheldrake. Today, Brooklands is nonexistent, so is the Pink Palace. Today the chemists have issues with the methadone clinic they run. It's become really sad. I have had several family members die from cancer within 10yrs of them moving there. Some blood related, others related through marriage. They all died unnecessarily. They could've had treatment, but the NHS doesn't seem to want to put funds into Essex so treatment was not recommended for them. Lung, skin, and the digestive tract are prominent. I don't hold the doctors at fault, they can only work with what they have. I had 2 uncles die on the same day from the same cancer. So balk at these poor people and try to pass the blame, but I can promise you that the house was probably condemned like I said and "remodeled" over the hazardous wastes. It's extremely windy and the rainstorms can come like a hurricane. So YES I blame the scumbag landlords for doing that. YES I blame the council for not stepping in and helping out this town. My aunt lives on Austin Avenue. We used to joke about her living in the lake district or that she had an Olympic sized swimming pool. She had a pothole that would swallow an army tank in front of her house. It only took the council 25yrs of her living there to get the roads paved. Most taxi's and delivery drivers wouldn't drive down certain roads for that reason. Taxes and government funding don't get put back into the community there. I've seen Danny Sloggets KZfaq channel and seen what he's done for Jaywick. He's trying to reestablish the community as a family. He would hold events at the local clubs and pubs for many people for many reasons. Talent shows and fundraising events. He is what Jaywick needs! Shine on Danny and keep up the good fight!

I saw a tv documentary series about jay wick years back,I remember that guy trying to help out and thought what a guy,totally unconditional caring bloke👍🏻🇬🇧

I went to jaywick way before all these programs got onto it I can honestly say this program must be in the posh part because down near the sea wall it looked like houses where falling down . Shortly afterward I saw on the news jaywick was the most deprived town in Europe. I wasn’t surprised. These people deserve better. A local told me at the time the police won’t go In jaywick after dark. It could be a great place There’s holiday parks all around it. Good luck jaywick hope you get the help you need

I like that AD has decorated his RV. I do that in my small place too.

I wonder how these people have fared during this last hellish year?

all the landlord wants is money and politicians want is there votes and ..we only see politicians on campaign day.never again when in office,they need to come together to speak one voice .

If this don't make you tear up...such a sad situation

That's fucking heartbreaking

The housing situation in the UK has gotten even worse since Covid. This is absolutely devastating. More landlords need to be humane and step up to help😢

How about the renters cleaning their property?! Have they never heard of daily cleaning up?! Why is furniture thrown around? Bags (presumably with garbage inside) all over the place ? Why? Yes, there are slum landlords, but the cleaning of the house/apartment is NOT the landlord's duty. It is the duty of the tenants !

According to history, this town will be an expensive hipster town in some years.

Best news channel on the planet. Watching from Canada regularly 🫡

How that "landlord" sleeps at night is mind boggling.

Heartbreaking, but why can't councils seize the building and charge the landlord for all repairs and if they can't or won't pay they have to forfeit the property and any other assets to cover the expenses

It was our holiday base alongside St Osyth, Clacton in 70s/80s. So sad to see it in this state. I hope it can be regenerated in the future. Sending best wishes to those living there x

Living conditions, housing like this shouldn't be a thing in this day & age, disgraceful, shame on the council for allowing this.

Any updates on the people in Jaywick ?

I find myself being grateful for what little I do have after watching this , it's so sad too see in this day and age !!

I'm a landlord in Dublin Ireland with a housing benefit tenant. The property is inspected twice a year and rent is suspended if any infractions are noted. These inspections ensure the property is maintained to a safe standard for the tenant's wellbeing and also maintains my property to a high standard. It's a win-win and a no-brainer.

Heartbreaking seeing how those poor people have to live 😢

I feel the pain here. I'm not from Jaywick nor have I ever been there. But 3 years ago my realtionship of over 10 years fell apart. I gave my ex partner and my children my house and I have lived in my van ever since. There isn't any help around for anyone that really needs help. I'm prepared to go back to work im not lazy or disabled apart from mental health. I just need some help to be able to get myself moving again. But just can't find any help anywhere. I have my details on the about section on my youtube channel......