Taking a little more exercise I walked around the outside of the vesting (fortress) this morning and saw a row of bicycles. I asked an older gentleman on his bike what they where doing and was surprised by his answer, that they had been donated by those who had better or electrical bikes for use by the refugees housed on the ship. I seem to be uninformed as I had assumed the ship was docked for repairs. He mentioned the problem of criminal activities from this group (I have no knowledge of any such activities and would welcome any feedback on this perception), stating his view that drug sales and prostitution are being undertaken. He went on to say that these groups make a lot of money from this and that the house prices have risen as a result of their investments; that his grandchildren could not afford to buy houses. Grateful if anyone has a view on this.
I wouldn’t dare say that there’s no crime around these parts, but I find it a little hard to imagine crooks getting so rich from selling drugs and sex to penniless people (who are forbidden to work and get bicycles from charity), that they drive up the house price. From all justifications for racism I’ve heard, surely this one takes the cake for creativity.
A common mistake is that house prices have gone up so much that people can no longer afford them. Truth is that prices have gone up _because_ people can afford them and have the spending power to overbid.