I have worked with some great leaders and some bad ones. John Perry, was one of the best. He had strong values and a vision for people and communities which I shared. He gave me the freedom to do my job and was there to give advice and support. He was forgiving of my mistakes of which there were many and he protected me when my unconventional style upset some.
He had established The Renewal Strategy Team some months before I joined in 1976. Its purpose was to deliver a long term urban renewal programme in the inner city of Leicester using funding from central and local government to improve homes and neighbourhoods. By definition the areas involved were the most deprived and run down. Many of the tenants and residents were immigrants from BME Communities living in poor quality rented accommodation with the remnants of a mainly white owner occupied sector.
I was the last to join the young multi-disciplinary new team. I had no qualifications or experience in this work and I felt extremely lucky to be there. I was the talker employed to liaise with local residents and communities. My job was to encourage people to become involved in the design and improvement of their neighbourhoods. I also supported those whose homes were being renovated.
My style was sometimes controversial. In my early days I encouraged residents to come to meetings by telling them that the council were planning to demolish their homes. This was not strictly true but it ensured a good turnout in areas where people were naturally suspicious and cynical. There was also the prospect of grants for landlord and owners to improve their properties and homes which was an added incentive to attend.
As I became more confident my role changed from being the face of the council to being an advocate for local residents and tenants. This was partly due to my own values and partly to reading Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers by Tom Wolfe. John encouraged me to read the book as to some I was the flak catcher for the council, employed to be mau-maued (intimidated) by people in the community who felt abandoned and marginalised. The book helped me to understand why people in inner cities felt this way. It described how in the USA those on the receiving end of failed poverty programmes often felt resentment. People in authority did things to them not with them. I sense that this resentment is still felt today in some regeneration areas especially in London. I also feel it was one of the causes of social unrest in 1981 and since. We genuinely tried to work with local people.
Being an advocate was easy as many of the residents and tenants were living in squalid conditions. Rachmanism was at its height and many tenants were being exploited by unscrupulous landlords, forced to pay high rents to live in slums. Part of my role was to challenge these landlords to improve their properties or sell them on to the emerging housing associations or the local authority. This is where I first experienced the joy of rehousing people out of slums into new homes. A feeling that I remember to this day.
One of the best parts of my work was the involvement of people from so many ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. People who had given up much to come to the UK to find a new home. Many could not speak English and in the days before formal translators we had to innovate to make ourselves understood. Our newsletters were translated by a number of friends and acquaintances including my own family. We faced threats from the National Front who accused us of favouring immigrants over the indigenous population. I was born in Leicester but my own family had arrived in 1939 so I never quite understood what indigenous meant. I was secretary to Inter Racial Solidarity Campaign which promoted an anti-racist message. John supported and shared my commitment. When I retired he wrote, “one thing Tom and I have always shared-sometimes at a cost-is a commitment to anti–racism, whether at work or outside”
I was privileged to work for such an enlightened Team and I have never forgotten the lessons I learned. I am saddened to think that the housing conditions I experienced then are returning as the housing crisis deepens. I once thought that the rise of housing associations and enforcement of tougher regulations had eradicated these conditions forever. This time showed me that everyone, whatever their circumstances,deserves a decent home at a price they can afford. Something I witnessed housing associations and the council providing. I have doubts if some will do so in future. This is where I first witnessed that the most successful organisations work with and involve their residents and tenants in the real decisions that affect their lives and their neighbourhoods. Again this was once commonplace in the social housing sector. Some now seem to have forgotten it. Most of all I learned that new arrivals and immigrants bring a vitality and commitment to our neighbourhoods which we ignore at our peril. Many of these areas survive and thrive today in Leicester because of them and John’s Team. He had a vision that it would be so. I was privileged to share it with him.
tommurtha 