Nick Hedges was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1943. He studied photography at Birmingham College of Art from 1965 to 1968, and as a final project he worked with Birmingham Housing Trust on an exhibition about the city’s badly housed.

On leaving college, Shelter employed Hedges to document the oppressive and abject living conditions being experienced in poor quality housing in the UK. On his visits to cities including Glasgow, Salford, Bradford, Liverpool and Newcastle, Hedges captured astonishing scenes of families negotiating life in slums. 

In Hedges’ belief, photographers should work on projects to support the reformation and improvement of society, and through his photographs, he hoped to help raise consciousness about the extent of unfit living conditions.

Living accommodation hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969

In a hostel for the homeless Dartmouth Park, 1969

Child playing in the courtyard of a homeless hostel, London, 1969

Doorstep conversation, Brent, 1969

Dormitory of hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969

Dormitory of hostel for the homeless, Dartmouth Park, 1969

Children gossiping on the roof of their tenement block, Wandsworth, 1969

Children gossiping on the roof of their tenement block, Wandsworth, 1969

Mother and son in foul kitchen basement, Battersea, 1970

An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970

An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970

An elderly pensioner living in a damp basement flat, South London, 1970

Living in a single room, North London, 1970

Child on balcony of her tenement block, Southwark, 1970

Child dreaming on balcony of her tenement block, Southwark, 1970

Kitchen of a basement flat, Wandsworth, 1970

Lambeth, 1970

Elderly single man in his basement flat, Lambeth, 1970

Elderly single man in his basement flat, Lambeth, 1970

Courtyard of Chaucer House Hostel for the Homeless, South London, 1971

Courtyard of Chaucer House Hostel for the Homeless, South London, 1971

Mother, child, and kitten living in slum property, North London, 1971

Mother and toddler living in overcrowded housing, South London, 1971

Father and child in a hostel for the homeless, London, 1971

Mother and her children living in temporary accommodation, South London, 1971

Single mum living in a single room, Notting Hill, 1972

Single mum living in a single room, Notting Hill, 1972

Kitchen on a Brixton staircase, London, 1972

Mother living in one bedroom flat, Tottenham, 1972

Single mum living in one room, Tottenham, 1972

Single mum living in one room, Tottenham, 1972

Mother and daughter living in poor housing, Brixton, 1972

Married couple and family living in overcrowded flat, South London, 1972

Young family living in one room, South London, 1972