Labour's Cllr Katie Lomas, City of York Council's Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality and Inclusion, has called for a strong government to end entrenched poverty, after a new University of York report found that almost one in five children in the city are growing up poor, 125 years after Seebohm Rowntree first exposed hardship on York's streets.
The report, Poverty and Progress? 125 years on from Rowntree's study of life in York, was produced by the University's Cost of Living Research Group and launched on 5 October at The Priory Centre in York. It revisits the city that Rowntree surveyed for his groundbreaking 1901 work, Poverty: A Study of Town Life.
Its findings are stark. In 2025, 18.2% of children in the City of York lived in relative poverty after housing costs. And while the Centre for Cities has described York as the UK's "most affluent city", high rents and house prices mean low-income households in York were more likely to fall below the poverty line in 2024/25 than equivalent households in London.
Lomas: 'Without the intervention of the state'
Responding to the report, Cllr Lomas said the lesson of the last 125 years was clear. "Capitalism creates wealth but, without the intervention of the state, it also creates entrenched poverty and sharp inequality," she said.
She argued that the country made huge progress after Rowntree's original study, but that the rise of free market ideology in the 1980s had sent things into reverse. "Now the country has a Prime Minister who is prepared to acknowledge this fact and address the issue," she added.
Hidden hardship in an 'affluent' city
Cllr Lomas, who represents Acomb ward, said York's wealthy image hides the pressure felt by many residents. "York is often deemed affluent, but what that means is that if you are on a low income in York, you really feel it," she said.
High rents, house prices and general living costs, she warned, make the city "an extremely challenging place to live for many thousands of our residents, especially those earning below average wages."
Ten-year plan to tackle poverty
The Labour-run council says it is working on three fronts: tackling poverty now, preventing people falling into it, and creating lasting change by making York more affordable.
That includes working with employers and investors to bring well-paid, sustainable jobs to the city, providing emergency hardship payments for residents in crisis, and helping people claim every benefit they are entitled to, including Pension Credit. With partners, the council is also delivering free school breakfasts, poverty proofing schools and investing in early intervention and prevention to support families.
This work sits within the council's ten-year anti-poverty strategy, developed with organisations working on the ground and adopted last year. It includes the city's Children's Poverty Truth Commission, Hear us, York, which co-produces responses with children and young people who have lived experience of poverty.
Cllr Lomas said local action could only go so far without national backing. "Ultimately, we need a strong government that ensures all of our citizens can benefit from the great wealth that society produces, and who all live full lives free from the scourge of poverty," she said.
