homeless

A devastating fire swept through Dhaka’s sprawling Korail shantytown, destroying or damaging some 1,500 shanties and reducing tin-roofed dwellings to smouldering ruins, officials reported.

The inferno, which erupted on Tuesday evening, required 16 hours to extinguish, according to Rashed Bin Khalid, a duty officer at the fire department.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, the fire service’s director, confirmed approximately 1,500 shanties were burned or damaged, leaving thousands without shelter.

Official records indicate about 60,000 families — many displaced by climate disasters — inhabit this 65-hectare (160-acre) shantytown. Korail sits adjacent to Dhaka’s affluent Gulshan and Banani districts, surrounded by modern high-rise developments.

Dense smoke enveloped the area as flames consumed dwellings throughout the night.

By Wednesday, displaced residents desperately sifted through debris, attempting to salvage their belongings.

Firefighters reported difficulty accessing the blaze due to the area’s narrow pathways.

Dhaka, home to 10.2 million people as of 2024, contains hundreds of informal settlements populated by rural migrants fleeing poverty, exploitation, and climate-related calamities. Those living there typically survive on daily wages earned as rickshaw drivers, housemaids, and cleaners.

Some 60,000 families, many of them climate refugees, live in the area which covers more than 65 hectares (160 acres).

A fire in a densely populated and impoverished area in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka has burned or damaged 1,500 shanties, leaving thousands homeless, authorities say.

No casualties were reported as of Wednesday, a day after the fierce blaze broke out at the Korail shantytown. According to Rashed Bin Khalid, a fire department officer, it took 16 hours to douse the fire, which began on Tuesday evening.

The fire service’s director, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, said about 1,500 ramshackle dwellings were burned or damaged in the blaze, and thousands became homeless. Heavy smoke blanketed the area as flames engulfed the environs overnight.

According to official data, some 60,000 families, many of them climate refugees, live in the area, which covers more than 65 hectares (160 acres).

The area straddles Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan and Banani neighbourhoods, and it is surrounded by clusters of high-rise apartment and office buildings.

On Wednesday, residents who lost their homes were desperate to collect their valuables as they scoured the debris. Firefighters said they struggled to reach the area because of narrow alleys.

Dhaka, a city of 10.2 million people as of 2024, has hundreds of shantytowns where people from rural Bangladesh migrate because of poverty and exploitation.

Climate-induced disasters also push them to the city’s poorest areas, where they live on low-paid daily labour such as driving rickshaws and working as housemaids and cleaners.

Nov. 25 (UPI) — A coalition of 19 attorneys general and two state governors sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over changes to funding allocations and conditions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development that they say threaten thousands of formerly homeless people and families with eviction.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, alleges new restrictions and funding cuts announced by HUD earlier this month to its Continuum of Care program threaten housing stability and disadvantage services for people experiencing homelessness, including those with mental disabilities and substance use disorders.

The Democratic-led states allege that the changes have thrown CoC into “chaos” and that HUD was holding congressionally approved funds and vulnerable people hostage.

“Communities across the country depend on Continuum of Care funds to provide housing and other resources to our most vulnerable neighbors,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

“These funds help keep tens of thousands of people from sleeping on the streets every night. I will not allow this administration to cut off these funds and put vital housing and support services at risk.”

Founded by Congress in 1987, the CoC program provides states, local governments and nonprofits with funds to provide housing and support services to those experiencing homelessness.

Earlier this month, HUD Secretary Scott Turner criticized the CoC for prioritizing funds for organizations with Housing First policies, which provide housing to individuals without preconditions, such as sobriety or minimum income.

Turner said the policy ran counter to the department’s objective of selecting the most effective and innovative programs, and it would be instituting changes, including requiring that 70% of projects to be selected through competition.

In a statement, HUD said 90% of CoC awards went to support projects with “failed” Housing First ideologies, which the department said “encourages dependence on endless government handouts while neglecting to address the root causes of homelessness, including illicit drugs and mental health.”

Changes to be implemented are to increase competition for grants, advance public safety, focus on self-sufficiency, encourage personal accountability and crack down on gender ideology, use of taxpayer dollars on undocumented migrants and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

“Our philosophy for addressing the homelessness crisis will now define success not by dollars spent or housing units filled, but by how many people achieve long-term self-sufficiency and recovery,” Turner said.

In their lawsuit, the states allege that the changes mean only 30% of CoC funds may be used for permanent housing, a drop from roughly 90%.

HUD has also revised the scoring system used to grant awards. According to the lawsuit, the previous system encouraged CoCs to address needs of minority groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, and the new changes arbitrarily disadvantage programs that provide supportive services for mental disabilities and substance use disorder

The policies also bar funding for applicants that acknowledge the existence of transgender and gender-diverse people and penalize homeless-service providers that pursue approaches to homelessness that do not align with the Trump administration.

In total, the changes will threaten housing stability and disadvantage services for people with mental disabilities and substance use disorder, the lawsuit states.

“This program has proven to be effective at getting Americans off the streets, yet the Trump administration is now attempting to illegally slash its funding,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Those caring for our unhoused neighbors need the federal government’s continued support. Absent judicial intervention, the Trump administration’s actions would only worsen the homelessness crisis.”

Kevin Spacey is reportedly homeless after facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

The “House of Cards” actor told the Telegraph in an interview published Wednesday that he is currently “living in hotels [and] living in Airbnbs” near wherever he can find work because his current financial situation is “not great.”

“I literally have no home, that’s what I’m attempting to explain,” Spacey said.

The actor, who used to live in Baltimore, said he lost his house “because the costs over these last seven years have been astronomical.”

“I’ve had very little coming in and everything going out,” Spacey said. But “[y]ou get through it. In weird ways, I feel I’m back to where I first started, which is I just went where the work was. Everything is in storage, and I hope at some point, if things continue to improve, that I’ll be able to decide where I want to settle down again.”

Spacey swiftly fell from grace in 2017 after actor Anthony Rapp alleged that the two-time Oscar winner had made sexual advances toward him in the 1980s when he was a teenager. Additional accusations of sexual misconduct or assault by more than 30 men followed. Spacey has denied all allegations, and the various lawsuits that stemmed from them ended up being dropped, dismissed, or resulted in his acquittal.

Spacey previously addressed his mounting debt in a 2024 interview with Piers Morgan. After admitting that he was unable to pay the bills that he owed, he said he had considered filing for bankruptcy but had so far “managed to sort of dodge it.” He also revealed that his Baltimore home was facing foreclosure and would be “sold at auction.”

The actor has since attempted to make a comeback. In 2021, he landed his first acting job since the misconduct allegations: an Italian indie movie. He has appeared in other projects, including on stage.

While Spacey has yet to return to Hollywood, he remains hopeful about his future.

“We are in touch with some extremely powerful people who want to put me back to work,” he told the Telegraph. “And that will happen in its right time. But I will also say what I think the industry seems to be waiting for is to be given permission — by someone who is in some position of enormous respect and authority.”

Anya Garnis, who shares two young children with her husband Sunna Van Kampen, recently tried to rent a property in Devon, but she was rejected from doing so because of a Home Office blunder

Former Strictly star Anya Garnis fears she may be left homeless after a Home Office blunder rejected her right to live in Britain.

The Russian-born Latin dancer started dancing at the age of 10 and began competing professionally with her dance partner, Strictly’s Pasha Kovalev, in 1998. The pair moved to the US in 2001 to start her professional dancing career.

They reached the final of the US Open Ballroom Championship on a number of occasions and have also appeared in US series So You Think You Can Dance. Anya, who is a US citizen, has performed at the Emmys and the Oscars and even headlined the Broadway show Burn The Floor.

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The 43-year-old, who shares two young children with her husband Sunna Van Kampen, recently tried to rent a property in Totnes, Devon, but she was rejected from doing so because of a Home Office blunder.

Baffled by the situation Anya investigated and discovered the Home Office’s landlord checking system suggested she did not have permission to live in the country, despite being here since 2013.

The Home Office said her application for leave to remain may have been lost – rendering her ‘illegal’. Speaking to the MailOnline she said: “I was absolutely shocked and devastated. We have to leave the place we’re living now in a couple of weeks, but have been told we can’t rent or buy anywhere else.

“In effect, this will leave us homeless in Britain. If we leave the country, my visa application will be dismissed entirely, but we may have no choice.”

Anya came to the UK on a temporary UK visa in 2013 to work for Strictly. She married Mr Van Kampen in 2017 and they later had two children, now aged three and one.

Since 2013 Anya has lived in the UK on rolling temporary visas without any major issues until she applied to renew her permission last September.

After applying she heard nothing for months so chased her application up on the Home Office website which suggested her application was being processed. When she tried to call, they told her they couldn’t discuss individual cases on the phone.

Home Office guidelines state that applicants have automatic leave to remain while their applications are being processed, so she thought nothing of it. After applying again she was shocked to still be turned down by the LCS.

She said: “I can’t buy or rent a property, but I also can’t leave the country while I’m waiting for a decision. I know highly skilled Americans who have been forced to give up on a life in Britain and move back home because of this catch.”

The Home Office said it would not comment on an individual case.

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