Poverty and place

The programme, which will complete in 2011, looks beyond existing policies and approaches to tackling poverty and area based disadvantage to:

• Highlight the realities of what is important to people about their experience of living on a low income in different types of deprived neighbourhood and how the place where they live affects their experiences; and
• Influence debates on policies that are designed to tackle area based disadvantage and poverty in light of people's own experiences.

The programme involves a three year qualitative longitudinal study in 6 areas of Britain and includes a creative arts approach to engaging people through audio-visual work on issues that are important to them. The latest findings from the study explore policy assumptions and personal experiences on work and worklessness highlighting that:

• Work is not always a route out of poverty.
• Policy across the political spectrum currently places too much emphasis on gaining work 'at any price' and needs to take more account of the reality of people's experiences of working and looking for work in deprived neighbourhoods that were struggling even before the recession.
• Welcome 'demand-side' policy initiatives such as the Future Jobs Fund, which focuses on creating good quality jobs for young people, could go further to include older age groups over a longer period.
• Responsibility for improving the availability and quality of jobs in deprived areas needs to be shared between Government, individuals and employers rather than focussing solely on skills and 'employability'.

A series of short films have been made with residents in the Welsh Town of Amlwch to illustrate these issues from residents perspectives - 'Lucky to have a job' explores many of the issues raised by residents around work.

Overview

Living through change in challenging neighbourhoods (PDF 50KB), Professor Ian Cole, CRESR Sheffield Hallam University

This major three year longitudinal study is exploring how the dynamics of living in different places affects peoples' experience of living in or on the margins of poverty. It is working in 6 neighbourhoods across Britain to highlight the reality of people's experiences and what this means for policies aiming to tackle poverty, and area based disadvantage.