The CSJ think-tank should focus on decent standards of housing - Jayne Dowle

“We are excited to continue this [the Foundation’s] work through our Yorkshire regional office, and to further our mission to connect the backstreets of Britain with corridors of power,” he told this newspaper.

It’s a neat juxtaposition, bringing home a major area of concern the CSJ must address.

It has already launched a report investigating the root causes of poverty and disadvantage in the UK, with the plan to offer long-term solutions for change. They’re right to say that this begins at home.

Back to my old street; I lived here until I was 15, when my mother finally persuaded my father to move – to a new-build around the corner.

Although the new house had all mod-cons, including central heating, I hold my first home close to my heart. I played out on those backstreets Mr Gamester talks about, but I’m not sure I’d let a six-year-old out unsupervised these days.

The cobbles are overgrown with weeds, there’s rubbish and debris everywhere, with the security gates fitted some years ago to prevent burglaries and anti-social behaviour yawning open when I passed.

When I was a kid most residents were owner-occupiers, priding themselves on paying a mortgage on their own modest terraced houses. But many houses now belong to buy-to-let landlords.

The state of some of them is shocking; window frames peeling, broken drain pipes and guttering, slates falling off and a pervading air of neglect.

Mr Gamester should lead his team directly to such backstreets – they’re everywhere, throughout our region.

Without decent homes to grow up in, children’s life chances are stymied from the moment they are born.

The CSJ needs to get through to the central government that ‘housing policy’ does not only mean meeting targets on building new homes. It also means legislation to bring all homes to a decent standard and empowering local councils and other agencies with enough funding and clout to make sure laws are not broken.

This provision of homes fit to live in should not be regarded as a luxury or a ‘nice to have’.

Lack of decent housing has severe consequences for children, young people and adults.

It leads to ill-health, both mental and physical; many studies have proven that damp and mouldy living conditions lead to health issues such as asthma and heart problems.

It's also very difficult to feel motivated regarding education and employment if all the evidence suggests there is no hope of moving forward and bettering yourself.

Not enough social and political attention has been paid to these cut-off communities and indeed many of them are physically cut off.

Whilst the £2 per journey bus fare cap, introduced nationally after the pandemic lockdowns, is still in place, £4 for a return journey is almost the hourly minimum wage of a young person who’s working and ineligible for a bus pass.

An apprentice aged 21 in the first year of their apprenticeship is entitled to a minimum hourly rate of £4.81. Many employers don’t pay any more than that. An hour off the day’s earnings, just to get to work? That needs addressing, and nationally, not just in Yorkshire and the Humber.

In general, too many of our regional communities are riven by low educational attainment, often suffering from language and cultural barriers, with individuals held back from pursuing meaningful employment due to a lack of self-esteem and confidence.

Whilst the overwhelming majority of our region’s schools and colleges do a sterling job of supporting young people, we need far more emphasis on adult education and re-training. And opportunities need to be made attractive and accessible.

Recent Centre for Social Justice polling revealed Yorkshire and the Humber as the region most convinced that Britain is broken, with 85 per cent of those polled in Yorkshire thinking so, compared with the national average of 75 per cent. No wonder there is so much disengagement.

As Mr Gamester rightly says, to find out what is going wrong, he’s got to get the word direct - from those very backstreets. I wish him luck.