Charity organization; Housing -- England -- London; Poor -- England -- London; Working class -- Dwellings
My readers will not imagine that I mean to imply that there are not
still depths of evil remaining in Blank Court. It would be impossible
for such a place as I described it as being originally, to be raised
in two years to a satisfactory condition. But, what I do contend is,
that we have worked some very real reforms, and seen some very real
results. I feel that it is in a very great degree a question of time,
and that, now that we have got hold of the hearts of the people, the
court is sure to improve steadily. It will pay as good a percentage to
its owners and will benefit its tenants as much as any of the other
properties under my management have done. This court contains two out
of eight properties on which the same plans have been tried, and all of
them are increasingly prosperous. The first two were purchased by Mr.
Ruskin.
It appears to me then to be proved by practical experience, that when
we can induce the rich to undertake the duties of landlord in poor
neighborhoods, and insure a sufficient amount of the wise, personal
supervision of educated and sympathetic people acting as their
representatives, we achieve results which are not attainable in any
other way. It is true that there are Dwellings' Improvement Societies,
and the good these societies do is incalculable; I should be the last
to underrate it. But it is almost impossible that any society could do
much for such places as Blank Court, because it is there not so much
a question of dealing with houses alone, as of dealing with houses in
connection with their influence on the character and habits of the
people who inhabit them. If any society had come there and put those
houses into a state of perfect repair at once, it would have been of
little use, because its work would have been undone again by the bad
habits and carelessness of the people. If improvements were made on a
large scale, and the people remained untouched, all would soon return
to its former condition. You cannot deal with the people and their
houses separately. The principle on which the whole work rests, is that
the inhabitants and their surroundings must be improved together. It
has never yet failed to succeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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