Fair Or Too Far? Landlord Refuses To Rent To Student From Sierra Leone Over Ebola Concerns

Landlord Refuses Sierra Leone Student A Room Over Ebola Concerns

via BBC News

Starting university is meant to be an exciting time but for Amara Bangura it has been a bit too eventful.

He’s been refused somewhere to stay because he comes from Ebola hotspot, Sierra Leone.

Amara arrived in Norwich from West Africa a fortnight ago and was turned down by two landlords – one by letter.

Both were happy for him to stay until he handed over his passport and they realised he was from a country at the centre of the current epidemic.

It’s very unreasonable. And if you think everybody coming from Sierra Leone is affected, then that’s just completely unfair

Amara Bangura

He told Newsbeat that he was “devastated to be turned down”.

The letter said: “Under normal circumstance. Your profile would be a great profile to be one of our lodgers.

“However, given that the world is about to probably experience an Ebola epidemic, we have decided not to accept anyone that has been anywhere near the ebola outbreak within the last two months, or is likely to visit those areas in the near future.”

Amara, 35, told Newsbeat that it is wrong to assume all people from Sierra Leone carry the disease.

He says: “It’s very unreasonable. And if you think everybody coming from Sierra Leone is affected, then that’s just completely unfair.”

The good news for Amara is that after a few weeks of looking, he’s found somewhere to stay so he can continue his studies.

More than 4,400 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, mainly in West Africa.

Britain has now begun screening passengers at Heathrow airport.

People arriving from the worst-affected countries will be questioned and may have their temperatures taken.