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The Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI) or Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinders programme was a controversial [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] scheme of demolition, refurbishment and new-building which ran in the UK between 2002 and 2011 and aimed "to renew failing housing markets in nine designated areas of the North and Midlands of England." [5]
The programme was launched in 2002 by deputy prime minister John Prescott, [3] with the coalition government led by David Cameron ending funding in March 2011. [6]
Supporters of the scheme claimed that it would " renew failing housing markets and reconnect them to regional markets", "improve neighbourhoods and" "encourage people to live and work in these areas." [7]
Opponents claimed that "Britain's heritage is being 'rapidly lost' by botched renovation and unnecessary demolition - in particular the bulldozing of Victorian terraced housing across the north west of England." [8] and that it was "a programme of class cleansing". [9]
The nine Pathfinder partnerships announced in April 2002 were Birmingham/Sandwell, East Lancashire, Hull and East Riding, Manchester/Salford, Merseyside, Newcastle/Gateshead, North Staffordshire, Oldham/Rochdale, and South Yorkshire.
In 2005, three further areas of low demand were also identified; West Yorkshire, West Cumbria, and Tees Valley. [10]
HMRI was started in 2002, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), at the time responsible for the Department for Communities and Local Government. The Labour Government had adopted as one of its policies the improvement of urban areas that had suffered numerous social problems, originating from decline of traditional industries in the North of England, like the closure of coal mines, ship yards, textile industry. Rapidly rising house prices throughout the United Kingdom between 1995 and 2007 creating a wealth effect had not been replicated in such areas. Instead, such areas experienced, according to an early independent study of Pathfinder, "high vacancy rates, increasing population turnover, low sales values and, in some cases, neighbourhood abandonment and market failure". [11]
The basis was a report by the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) at the University of Birmingham, which informed lobbying by the National Housing Federation of the Government's 2002 Comprehensive Spending Review.
From the beginning on there was criticism of HMRI, from residents of the affected areas, politicians as well as experts in the field of historic buildings. Save Britain's Heritage have published an analysis of the pathfinder scheme that is highly critical of the proposals. Some local resident organisations opposed the plans for their areas, such as:
while other residents groups have supported the policy and participated in its delivery.
Property Scandal, a Channel 4 TV series and campaign, has been highly critical of Pathfinder schemes, broadcasting interviews with a central government housing minister - who appointed the presenter an independent advisor - and attempted interviews with Sefton Council and the Mayor of Liverpool, who both responded with written statements or brush-offs. Part of the film shows an 82-year-old being forcefully evicted from her freehold house after a compulsory purchase order.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a poverty charity, reported at an early stage that (while remaining generally supportive of the scheme), it was necessary for its success that financial, legal and moral commitments made up to a decade in advance should be supported by UK Central Government long-term funding commitments to 2019. [11] As of June 2008, however, Central Government funding had been committed only to March 2011, and Parliamentary concerns were expressed "that demolition sites, rather than newly built houses, will be the Programme’s legacy". [12]
The Merseyside Pathfinder area is also known as NewHeartlands. The area was broken up into geographical parts: Dingle, Granby, Arundel, Picton, Abercromby, Smithdown, Kensington, Tuebrook, Everton, Breckfield, Anfield, Vauxhall, Melrose and County.
The area of Toxteth is located close to the historic Princes Park. The streets include Beaconsfield Street, Cairns Street, Ducie Street, Jermyn Street and Granby Street. These streets are bound to the west by Princes Avenue with large, representative Victorian Houses, to the east by Kingsley Road and to the north by Eversley Street. Other streets in the area have been demolished and rebuilt[ when? ] and are not included in the renewal area. The local authority also refers to their plans as the '4 streets project', reflecting the fact that 4 streets are covered: Beaconsfield Street, Cairns Street, Jermyn Street and Ducie Street. All these streets cross or lead off Granby Street.
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighted areas in inner cities to clear out slums and create opportunities for higher class housing, businesses, and other developments. In the United States the term technically refers only to a federal program in the middle-to-late 20th Century, but colloquially is sometimes used to refer to any large-scale change in urban development.
Cabbagetown is a neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Administratively, it is defined as part of the Cabbagetown-South St. Jamestown neighbourhood. It largely features semi-detached Victorian houses and is recognized as "the largest continuous area of preserved Victorian housing in all of North America", according to the Cabbagetown Preservation Association.
Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside.
The Housing & Development Board, is a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development responsible for the public housing in Singapore. Established in 1960 as a result of efforts in the late 1950s to set up an authority to take over the Singapore Improvement Trust's (SIT) public housing responsibilities, the HDB focused on the construction of emergency housing and the resettlement of kampong residents into public housing in the first few years of its existence.
The Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) is a subsidised-sale public housing programme managed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority. It was instituted in the late 1970s as part of the government policy for public housing with two aims – to encourage better-off tenants of rental flats to vacate those flats for re-allocation to families in greater housing need; and also to provide an opportunity for home ownership to families unable to afford to buy in the private sector.
The Garden District is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The name was selected by the Toronto East Downtown Residents Association (TEDRA) in recognition of Allan Gardens, an indoor botanical garden located nearby at the intersection of Carlton and Jarvis Streets. The Garden District was officially designated by the Mayor and Toronto City Council in 2001, while TEDRA has since been renamed the Garden District Residents Association. Part of the neighbourhood is within official City of Toronto neighbourhood of Moss Park.
Strathcona is the oldest residential neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Officially a part of the East Side, it is bordered by Downtown Vancouver's Chinatown neighbourhood and the False Creek inlet to the west, Downtown Eastside to the north, Grandview-Woodland to the east, and Mount Pleasant to the south of Emily Carr University and the Canadian National Railway and Great Northern Railway classification yards.
The Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme was a co-operative programme in England between residents and stakeholders such as the local authority, businesses etc., aimed at improving specific deprived neighbourhoods.
Public housing in Singapore is subsidised, built, and managed by the Government of Singapore. Starting in the 1930s, the country's first public housing was built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in a similar fashion to contemporaneous British public housing projects, and housing for the resettlement of squatters was built from the late 1950s. In the 1960s under the SIT's successor, the Housing and Development Board (HDB), public housing consisting of small units with basic amenities was constructed as quickly and cheaply as possible at high densities and used for resettlement schemes. From the late 1960s, housing programmes focused more on quality, public housing was built in new towns, and a scheme allowing residents to lease their flats was introduced. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, more public housing options were provided for the middle class and efforts to increase community cohesion within housing estates were made. From the 1990s, the government began portraying public housing as an asset, introducing large-scale upgrading schemes and loosening regulations on the resale of public housing while additional housing programmes for the sandwich classes and elderly residents were introduced. Rising housing prices led to public housing being seen as an investment from the 2000s, and new technologies and eco-friendly features were incorporated into housing estates.
Downtown Norfolk serves as the traditional center of commerce, government, and culture in the Hampton Roads region. Norfolk, Virginia's downtown waterfront shipping and port activities historically played host to numerous and often noxious port and shipping-related uses. With the advent of containerized shipping in the mid-19th century, the shipping uses located on Norfolk's downtown waterfront became obsolete as larger and more modern port facilities opened elsewhere in the region. The vacant piers and cargo warehouses eventually became a blight on downtown and Norfolk's fortunes as a whole. But in the second half of the century, Norfolk had a vibrant retail community in its suburbs; companies like Smith & Welton, High's, Colonial Stores, Goldman's Shoes, Lerner Shops, Hofheimer's, Giant Open Air, Dollar Tree and K & K Toys were regional leaders in their respective fields. Norfolk was also the birthplace of Econo-Travel, now Econo Lodge, one of the nation's first discount motel chains.
The Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP), was introduced by HDB during the National Day Rally in August 2007. It replaced the Interim Upgrading Programme IUP Plus, and focuses on block and neighbourhood improvements, with full funding by the government. Flats built up to 1989 which have not undergone major upgrading programmes are eligible for NRP. NRP is implemented on a larger area basis of 2 or more contiguous precincts. There will be greater local consultation on the design proposal and facilities to be provided through public forums such as town hall meetings, surveys and dialogue sessions where residents will be able to voice their views and also hear the concerns of their fellow residents.
Derker is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton.
Little Burgundy is a neighbourhood in the South West borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Trefann Court is a small neighbourhood in the eastern part of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north side of Queen Street between Parliament Street and River Street. It extends north only a short distance to Shuter St.
The following is an overview of public housing estates in the Kai Tak development area, Kowloon City District, Hong Kong, including Home Ownership Scheme (HOS), Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS), and Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates.
Assemble RA is a collective based in London, who work across the fields of art, architecture and design. They began working together in 2010 and have described themselves as having between 16 and 20 permanent members. Assemble's working practice seeks to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made. Assemble champion a working practice that is interdependent and collaborative, seeking to actively involve the public as both participant and collaborator in the ongoing realization of the work. Their socially responsible approach led them to win a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2017.
The Welsh Streets are a group of late 19th century Victorian terraced streets in Toxteth, Liverpool, England. The houses were designed by Richard Owens and built by Welsh workers to house migrants from Wales seeking work; the streets were named after Welsh villages and landmarks.
The Granby Four Streets is an area in Toxteth, Liverpool, England, comprising four streets at the tip of a triangle near the Grade II* listed Princes Park. The streets, designed by Welsh architect Richard Owens and built by Welsh workers during the late 19th century are Beaconsfield Street, Cairns Street, Jermyn Street and Ducie Street. A fifth street, Granby Street, connects the four streets together and mostly contains commercial units.
Slum clearance in the United Kingdom has been used as an urban renewal strategy to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. Early mass clearances took place in the country's northern cities. Starting from 1930, councils were expected to prepare plans to clear slum dwellings, although progress stalled upon the onset of World War II.
The city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England includes a diverse variety of historical housing architectures, some dating back several hundred years, from small working class terrace houses to larger mansions, mostly from the Victorian era. While many remain in the present day, large numbers were demolished and redeveloped during the slum clearances of the 1960s and 1970s and of those that survived, many have since been refurbished.