You probably came to uni thinking York was ‘the South of the North’ – a quaint, middle-class city with few problems (other than being rather cold.) But beneath York’s bourgeois exterior, there’s a vast underbelly of poverty and deprivation, something York’s community groups are trying to do something about. In a time of cuts and crises, it’s easier said than done. However, the City of York Council, with The York Press and other local organisations, are attempting to remedy this with their ‘Stamp Out Poverty’ campaign.
Despite its picturesque reputation, York has a surprising level of poverty; 13% of children in the city live in poverty, compared to the national average of a fifth. That’s still over 4,500 kids in deprivation. Similarly, in life expectancy, York does quite well on the surface. Despite this, the difference in life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas in York is seven years for women – and ten years for men. That’s a decade of thousands of people’s lives lost to inequality. It’s a stark exemplifier of the tale of two cities that is a new home for many of you.
Even if you do live to a ripe old age in this walled ‘utopia’, money can be tight. Over 6,000 pensioners claim Pension Credit; a common indicator of old age poverty. For thousands of them, it’s their only income, especially worrying if you’re in the 79% of OAPs who have no partner. This has not only financial ramifications, but is creating a psychological and social crisis of loneliness and community breakdown in the city.
The situation is not improving. The introduction of the government’s ‘bedroom tax’ – a large weekly cut to housing benefit for council tenants with one or more spare rooms – has made life a lot harder for the 1,300 people hit by having to fork out at least an extra £14 a week. In addition, the slashing of council tax benefit after the government hit the council with a 10% reduction in their funding, has meant a bill several hundred pounds higher for many.
So who’s to blame for this cost of living crisis? One answer could be, well, us – students. York Council recently wrote: “High numbers of students and an increasing younger population…drive [up] the rental market” and “Students could be taking cheaper housing, forcing others to be pushed out of the market or forced into higher priced accommodation.” Accommodation provision currently meets just 8% of need here.
The other source of blame could be the economic crisis. Wages in the region aren’t stagnating – they’re falling; by £1700 since the General Election in 2010. Yorkshire has been the hardest hit out of any region by plummeting pay-packets. Energy bills have risen by 9% this year, and water by 3.5% in Yorkshire.
Finally, something is being done about this. In July, the City of York Council, The Press, the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Church representatives, the NHS and other local bodies teamed up to form the York Poverty Action Group, which aims to eradicate poverty in the city. No mean feat, but with the situation as it currently is, a very worthy cause. The initiative builds on York’s Fairness Commission, the first such commission in the country; launched in July 2011 as an ‘independent advisory body to City of York Council on ways to increase fairness and reduce inequality in York’. There are now several across the country, pushing the Living Wage and other measures to improve quality of life.
The Press is running its own ‘Stamp Out Poverty’ campaign on top of all this, with the backing of groups like the TUC. It’s a powerful coalition. There’s a lot of work to be done, but with York’s history of social justice activism and philanthropy, there’s no reason to say why York can’t finally smash poverty once and for all.