Demolishing the community - The government and Builders lobbies v/s the working class?

Have you also noticed the council estate of my mind? The soul is quickly dying away..


This is what is happening in the U.K and elsewhere, people are being divided and kicked out from their communities and displaced. Sometimes the government will say an area is re-develloped so they can destroy the unity and social networks in place thus increasing the confusion within our communities and stopping the natural "neighbourhood watch" that usually takes place. Basic socially discrimination against the working class because they live in the city, are strong and united and have no spending power (poor). Of course they can't really think for themselves, they are flooded with nasty drugs that the government encourages and profits from behind the scenes. Just walk into any local shop in a council estate, you will notice there is nothing organic or healthy to be consumed, people just can't easily find fish or fresh veg at a cheap cost so they are unable to live a healthy and balanced life anyway. Oh and I forgot to mention that the only comfort those people had is now so expensive (booze and fags) that drugs like crack cocaine are not that far off the mark. Are you starting to get the whole picture..?

What this country’s poorest really need is higher house prices. That's the basis of the government's Housing Renewal Pathfinder schemes – demolishing 400,000 houses across the North of England to build more expensive homes.

'The aim of the £500 million housing market renewal Pathfinder programme is to turn whole communities around by improving the quality of private, local authority and registered social landlord housing. This will involve clearing poor quality houses for which there is little or no demand, building attractive, good quality new homes, and upgrading existing home to push up their market value.' (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Feb 2004)

So this means housing market renewal, of course, rather than the renewal or renovation of existing homes. In the 1980s the Tories brought in laws to put far higher tax on repairs than new build, and so far Labour has been happy to stick with them.

Who else is happy with the Pathfinder schemes? The constructiuon companies, for one -- 'Housebuilders have welcomed the programme as a means of maintaining their output' Well known firms such as Bellway Homes (responsible for many other socially and environmentally 'contentious' schemes ) are being brought in by the government to build the new private houses. The other main winners are the companies that usually follow regeneration gravy trains – consultants, accountants and 'ousourcers' such as Capita, the infamous privatisation junkie and PFI contractor.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are also in on the act. The fluffy, family-oriented term actually conceals a range of (private) housing associations and companies which are registered with the Housing Corporation and pay no shareholder dividend. Many of them are involved in the government's transfers of council housing stock, and they are equally happy to be part of various Pathfinder schemes, shuffling out their tenants to make way for the demolitions.

'They completely forget that they are totally smashing community interest, and the essential assets of an existing area.' Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy at the LondonSchool of Economics

And it's the demolitions that are causing the most concern – with one of the scheme's founders fearing a 'social upheaval' like that which accompanied the 1960-70s slum clearances. Pathfinder schemes will demolish 400,000 houses, and may thus involve the eviction of thousands of families, mostly private and RSL tenants, and also home owners. They are suffering now, and the tenants and home buyers of the future will suffer later, due to the increased prices and dearth of social housing. The housing charity, Shelter, has estimated that 167,000 currently affordable homes will be demolished and 'thousands of families may be pushed out of buying or privately renting their home which could have contributed to homelessness rising twice as fast in the north of England than in the south.'

FULL ARTICLE HERE