“Have you got ID? Have you got ID? You can't come in unless you've got ID!” was my greeting as I arrived at the Sweets Way estate in Barnet. Daniel is seven, an ex-resident, and was likely echoing what he'd heard during the evictions over the past few months. He knew who I was though, and gave me a wry smile - his joke was both sweet and sardonic. Daniel is better versed than most adults when speaking about the housing crisis. His parents are part of the Sweets Way Resists campaign. He's been on television (“I nearly fell off my bike, you know! On the telly!”) and has spoken to many a journalist. He seemed weary of chatting about such boring grown-up matters, and rightly so. Instead, we discussed the tent he'd made with his friend out of some crates and sheets. “It's not a tent,” he corrected me solemnly, “it's a home.”
The children's regeneration show home. Photo by: Sophie Hemery
Since Annington Properties Limited gained the council's permission to demolish and redevelop the estate, all but one household have been evicted. Where a close community once existed, rows of empty houses are eerily boarded up to prevent the homeless, or anyone, from entering. The community has been shattered, scattered across London and further afield, usually with little consideration for people's employment, schools or medical needs. Daniel's mother Zlatka, an NHS worker, tells me how Sweets Way was her 'paradise': “Our son could play outside safely, we had a garden and a community.” The family spent weeks waiting to find out their fate; not knowing where they would end up was one of the most stressful times of her life, she said. Her partner Andrew, who also works for the NHS, tells me how he had found their son Daniel crying, scared of being forced to leave his home, friends and school. The family has since been relocated to Hendon, to a smaller house with no garden, and stairs too steep for Zlatka's arthritic knees. To minimise the upheaval, Andrew has decided to reduce his working hours so he can drive his son to school in Barnet.
