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Poverty, unemployment and repossessions on the rise years before the recession began

Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2009

A report released today (3 December) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that levels of poverty, unemployment and repossessions in the UK started rising as early as 2004, long before the recession began. These findings mean that in order to reduce the number of people living in poverty by any serious margin, the UK needs to recover not just from the recession, but from deep-seated problems that were re-emerging before the downturn.

poverty is now back at the same level as 2000; having risen every year since 2004/05;

two million children are in low-income, working households - the highest figure since records began;

unemployment bottomed in 2005 and now nearly 1 in 8 people of working age want but lack a job; the highest since 1997;

repossessions are six times the level of 2004 and are now back at the level they were in 1994.

Cleanliness next to...affluence

Street cleanliness in deprived and better-off neighbourhoods

An exploration of why affluent neighbourhoods tend to have higher levels of street cleanliness than deprived neighbourhoods and what local authorities can do to narrow this gap.

Across the country, more affluent neighbourhoods tend to show a level of cleanliness above the standard expected in national performance monitoring, while less affluent neighbourhoods perform much worse. Some local authorities are achieving high average scores but failing to maintain more deprived neighbourhoods to the desired standard. Indeed, there is evidence of a trade-off for local authorities between achieving higher average grades and achieving equal outcomes across neighbourhoods.

Landscape of neglect is fertile breeding ground for far right extremism

Fact and fiction blur as Heartland novelist Anthony Cartwright take Chris Arnot on a tour through estates of despair

'But the ground was shifting under the working class and sinking, like an old cricket pitch falling into the limestone workings that once fed the iron and steel-making process in the workshop of the world.'

Work does not guarantee a route out of poverty

 
Work and worklessness in deprived neighbourhoods

The study   challenges official policy that training or education can act as a spring board to get people into the job market or help career progression. While government has focused on the important objective of raising skills, aptitude and motivation, people's experience showed that there was often little opportunity to progress in their current job, even when they had acquired new skills or qualifications.

"There needs to be a stronger focus on the quality of work on offer. Government and employers should work together to improve terms and conditions so that work can break the cycle of poverty and support family life. Policy-makers also need to take into account the reality of how difficult it is to find work in areas that were struggling even before the recession hit."

Poorest communities remain forgotten

Communities in recession: the impact on deprived neighbourhoods

Joseph Rowntree Foundation reserach asks: What impact is the current recession having on disadvantaged communities and what can we learn from evidence from previous recessions?

"Talk is already focusing on the UK's emergence from the current recession, but this report illustrates how the poorest communities struggle to recover from economic downturns even in periods of wider prosperity.

"We face tough decisions over the next few months. It is essential that these decisions do not further disadvantage the very poorest communities which have already suffered the most. We need to emerge from this recession with an economy that is both just and sustainable."

Lynsey Hanley Equality, not education, is the key to individual transformation

Karen Day When economic depression is a constant

Government responds to forgotten Britain

Communities Secretary John Denham has outlined a £12m plan to reinvigorate and connect with those communities (many of which have seen strong BNP support) that are feeling the pressure from recession most acutely and ensure they are well placed to share fully in future prosperity and emerge stronger and more cohesive.

'The communities involved vary considerably and the challenges are different from place to place. But there are a number of key issues that cut to the core of local concerns. These include;

• a decline in traditional jobs in predominantly white areas and worries about young people's future;
• recent migration is perceived as having changed communities and created competition for jobs and resources like social housing; and
• anti-social behaviour - although fallen across the country - remains a real challenge and can create tensions between the majority of hard working families and the troublesome minority.

For some, the pace of change has led to a sense of resentment and a rise in insecurity and threatens to corrode the cohesion of these communities and create tensions. In some places support for the far right has risen. There could be a rise in migration and resentment at the perception that others are getting a better deal. Some people are left feeling that 'no one is speaking up for us'.

To support this programme CLG is publishing new guidance Building Cohesive Communities - what frontline staff and community activists need to know.

Eco-blind-alley

For green living, head for Mumbai or New York  Simon Jenkins offers an alternative to the ecotown.

New York, London, Mumbai, Hong Kong are crammed with buildings and people, economising on walls, roofs, central heating, offices, open space and mass transit.

In Britain the VAT incentive to replace rather than restore buildings – the result of builder lobbying – is flagrantly anti-green. If Britain must build at all, it should build high-density, low-rise, which conserves energy more efficiently than high-rise.

Glancey on the warning of Lakanal

Our lethal estates    The Lakanal House deaths cast shame on Britain. We urgently need to audit all similar blocks.

The fact, however, that Lakanal House is no more unsafe than many other housing blocks of its type is not cause for concern but for a public outcry. How can such a wealthy country as Britain still house its people in lethal settings? Why is our housing stock so poor when Britain's public housing, a century ago, was often held up as a model to be copied across Europe?

...if Lakanal House is typical then we can expect more fatal fires in the future. Of course, there should be fire drills in such buildings, and of course residents should be offered the best possible information on how to survive a fire. But we urgently need to hold a national audit of these and similar buildings, to investigate their weaknesses, and to equip them with secondary fire escapes.

Architects Journal 

Research finds no bias in allocation of social housing

Social housing allocation and immigrant communities

The independent research by ippr found that social housing policies are targeting those in most need including the homeless, the elderly and families with children. It found no evidence to support the perception that new migrants are getting priority over UK born residents. Nor was there any evidence of abuse of the system, including 'queue jumping' or providing false information.

"Much of the public concern about the impact of migration on social housing has, at its heart, the failure of social housing supply to meet the demands of the population. The poorer the area, the longer the waiting lists, therefore the greater the tension. Government and social housing providers need to work with the communities they serve to address these issues.”

“Who Cares About Estates?”

The National Estate Churches Network National Conference 2009

How you can make a positive impact on the Estate you serve….
Effective estate projects – examples and stories…
The Struggles and Challenges (and the solutions we use…)

Speakers: Lynsey Hanley author of “Estates: An Intimate History” and
Sister Margaret Walsh

Where: Birmingham, Carrs Lane Conference Centre, B4 7SX
When: 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Thursday 12th November 2009