Shelterrpr

=Shelter press release= Regeneration programmes contributing to fastest homelessness increase in the North, warns Shelter.

Original article here

10 December 2004

A new report launched by Shelter warns that plans to improve housing conditions and regenerate areas in the north of England could be pricing local people out of the market - leading to a rise in homelessness.

On the Up shows that Market Renewal Pathfinders - programmes designed to regenerate run down and deprived communities - are leading to rising house prices encouraging property speculation from investors outside the region. Shelter is concerned that this may cause a severe lack of affordability in the very areas that are supposed to be earmarked for local communities. At the same time an existing 167,000 affordable homes are being demolished.

Shelter warns that 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 (1).

The charity is calling for an urgent review of the market renewal programme to address the rise in homelessness and ensure the original aim of creating sustainable communities is achieved.

Adam Sampson, Director of Shelter, says: Although we support the aims of the Pathfinder programme, Shelter has grave concerns about the costs of their success in fuelling price rises. With rapidly rising levels of homelessness in many of these areas, an urgent review is needed to prevent money that has been intended to regenerate areas for the benefit of local people effectively ending up in speculators' pockets. Further suffering for families at the sharp end of this crisis must be prevented.

On the Up is published on the North West leg of Shelter's National Housing Investigation into Britain's housing crisis (2). The investigation is being led by journalist Fiona Millar, with panel members including Wayne Hemingway and Tony Wilson. They will hear evidence from frontline workers, such as local politicians and teachers, who witness the housing crisis on a daily basis through their work, as well as families living in these conditions.

On the Up and the National Housing Investigation is part of Shelter's million children campaign. Launched in April 2004, the campaign is calling for a commitment from the Government to end bad housing for the next generation of children.