Spending Cuts Trap Britain's Poorest In Boarded-Up Ghost Towns

Tens of thousands of residents in England's poorest communities are finding themselves trapped in streets filled with demolished or boarded-up houses after a £5bn Whitehall housing renewal project was cancelled. Residents living in mostly Victorian terraced homes in parts of Birmingham, Salford, Teesside, Merseyside, Lancashire and South Yorkshire that were due to be refurbished or demolished and replaced with new housing are in limbo after the government's Pathfinder scheme was halted in the comprehensive spending review. Brendan Nevin, the academic who helped devise the initiative under Labour, told Channel 4 News that over 123,000 of England's poorest residents are directly affected by the decision, which has left residents marooned among homes that have already been demolished or boarded up as part of the aborted programme. He said 30,000 properties scheduled for demolition may now remain standing and over 37,000 may not be refurbished. He added that the nine areas in the scheme account for almost half of the poorest 1% of neighbourhoods in the country. Remaining homeowners have seen the value of their properties drop dramatically after agreements with local councils to sell their homes for demolition were withdrawn, leaving them with little prospect of moving. Some had let their houses fall into disrepair in anticipation of moving out, but now face having to stay indefinitely. Read more on The Guardian website.