Gardens reveal hidden inequalities in society

By Amit Roy

THE coronavirus lockdown has emphasised differences between people with gardens and those without outside space. According to one survey, a third of the area in the better-off areas is taken up by gardens. That proportion falls to a fifth in poor areas.

If parks are sealed off, as has been threatened by some authori­ties if social distancing rules are flouted by a minority, it would hit those who live in large council blocks the hardest.

“I don’t want to have to take away exercise as a reason to leave home... if too many people are not following the rules,” Matt Hancock, the health secretary, recently told the BBC.

On Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky TV, he went so far as to assert: “Sunbathing is against the rules.”

Labour’s new deputy leader An­gela Raynor hit back, pointing out that “it’s all right for people who have got big houses and huge back gardens to say that”.

But those with any kind of home are luckier than the 300,000 people who are put into temporary ac­commodation. Social distancing is near impossible if whole families, restricted to one room each, have to share kitchens and bathrooms.

“In all the chaos, spare a thought for the homeless families living in cramped temporary accommoda­tion, often for months on end, while they wait to be given a per­manent home,” says Shelter, the housing charity.

But such families are better placed than the homeless – which is why Shelter strives to ensure that people are not made homeless in the first place.

The government has brought in new rules to ensure people are not thrown out because they are una­ble to pay their rent. Shelter is also asking for universal credit (UC) to be made more generous because after paying their rent, many fami­lies are not left with enough for food and other essentials.

In Lambeth in south London, for example, an average rent is £1,650 and UC is £1,992, leaving just £79 a week for all other bills.

Shelter’s CEO Polly Neate has also drawn attention to a scandal: “Homelessness is big business. Step forward the homelessness ty­coons. Aware of the desperation of councils, enterprising individuals have seized the opportunity to make millions of pounds ... by pro­viding cramped and squalid ‘units’ of temporary accommodation.

“If the chancellor is serious about ‘levelling up’ our country ... he should start with the shameful condition in these modern slums and the mil­lions being made by those willing to profit from them.”