ANDREW JACKSON

The Promise of the City

 

THE PROMISE OF THE CITY

 

"Between 1946-1981, they built five million council homes in Britain. At the end of the 1970s, 42% of the population lived in social housing. Today, that figure has fallen to less than 8%. In 1980, the Right to Buy scheme was introduced, granting council tenants the right to buy their home at a discount. By 1996, 30% of tenants had exercised this right; 2.2 million homes had been transferred into private ownership." 

Today, 40% of ex-council homes sold via Right to Buy are now rented out more expensively by private landlords. Since the introduction of Right to Buy, successive governments have prevented local authorities from spending the money received from the sale of council houses to build new ones, leading to a chronic shortage of social housing."

Paul Sng

 

Commissioned by University Central England.

Barry Jackson Tower was built by Wimpy in Aston, Birmingham, in 1972. Soon though it will be demolished and the lives and stories that lived there will be gone with it too.  It was erected in an era in Britain when nearly 50% of the British population lived in social housing; within an era before Thatcher and the rush for home ownership that would stigmatise those left behind.

David Cameron's drive to destroy 'sink estates' coupled with the Housing and Planning Act will destroy whole communities and in turn social housing. Leaving in its wake private housing that the displaced tenants are unable to afford.

Britain is facing a catastrophic housing crisis and Birmingham, as the largest social landlord in the country, will be at the heart of this.

This work uses the city's £26 million housing improvement program as a catalyst to explore what will come in its wake.

Whilst Birmingham is building it's first social housing in the city, for 30 years, this will not be enough to accommodate the city's growing need - a need which inevitably of course, will be filled by housing associations and private landlords.

This is Birmingham; a city where some residents face a 99 year wait for social housing large enough to accommodate a family - a city sitting on a social housing time-bomb.

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Texture of laundry room wall on the 9th floor of Barry Jackson Tower
Steps to Barry Jackson Tower
Dave - volunteer, South Aston Reform Church next to Barry Jackson Tower.
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Possessions left behind after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
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Possessions left behind. Flat 56, 9th Floor. Barry Jackson Tower after compulsory purchase order.
Elderly man - South Aston reform Church lunch club, next to Barry Jackson Tower
Pathway towards Barry Jackson Tower, South Aston
Wall #1 opposite Barry Jackson Tower, South Aston, Birmingham
8 Birmingham tower blocks are being demolished as part of £26m housing programme
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Interior, Barry Jackson Tower, South Aston, Birmingham
Pathway away from Barry Jackson Tower, South Aston
Child's drawings on wall of After being vacated all useful items are cleared from flat 119,  on the top floor of Barry Jackso...
Child's drawings and timeline history of Barry Jackson Toweron wall of recently vacated flat 119,  on the top floor of Barry ...
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Child's drawings on wall of recently vacated flat 119,  on the top floor of Barry Jackson Tower after compulsory purchase order.
Possessions left behind after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
Possessions left behind after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
Ellen - volunteer, South Aston Reform Church, next to Barry Jackson Tower.
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Photograph of Mr and Mrs Khan - on the day of their removal from Melbourne Ave.
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Mrs. Khan on her last day at Melbourne Ave.
Landing - Barry Jackson Tower
Interior,  after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
Clement - Barry Jackson Tower
Interior, after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
Flat 110, 18th Floor. Barry Jackson Tower
Possessions left behind after compulsory purchase order - Melbourne Ave.
Destino, last of 3 remaining tenants in Barry Jackson Tower
Child'Balloons on wall of recently vacated flat 56 floor of Barry Jackson Tower after compulsory purchase order.
Rev. Little - South Aston Reform Church, next to Barry Jackson Tower.
Possessions left behind after compulsory purchase order - Barry Jackson Tower
Michelle - Barry Jackson Tower
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Flat 56, 9th Floor. Barry Jackson Tower after compulsory purchase order.
Laundry Room, 9th Floor. Barry Jackson Tower
View of empty Sapphire Tower, from Barry Jackson Tower as it awaits its demolition.
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