Your location: 'Work for housing' slammed
05 February 2008
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Caroline Flint said that council tenants who do not work should seek employment or face losing their homes. You can view her speech on the subject on the Guardian website.
She proposed that new applicants for social housing should be given 'commitment contracts' to address the 'no one works around here' culture, and that this scheme could later be extended to existing tenants.
She stressed, however, that any new tenancy conditions would only apply to those capable of seeking work.
Ms. Flint also suggested that opening more job centres on housing estates would help tackle joblessness and that tenants who moved to take a job should be given priority in finding a new home.
Ms. Flint admitted she was surprised by figures showing that more than half of those of working age living in social housing are without paid work - twice the national average.
She said, 'It would be a big change of culture from the time when the council handed someone the keys and forgot about them for 30 years. The question that we should ask of new tenants is what commitment they will make to improve their skills, find work, and take the support that is available.'
Heavy criticism
Shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps, said Ms. Flint was trying to 'grab the headlines' with proposals that could not be legally enforced.
Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said, 'Any Government proposal that could mean people being thrown out of their homes for not finding a job must be fiercely resisted. It would mean a return to the workhouse, the destruction of families and communities and would add to the thousands who are already homeless.'
'There are real problems of unemployment in some of our social housing estates, but the solutions lie in improving council tenants' access to training and worthwhile jobs, and removing some of the disincentives to work by reforming the housing benefit system. Making people homeless means they do not have an address, which makes it even more difficult to find work.'
Mr. Sampson added, 'This problem has arisen because successive Governments have failed to invest in building social housing, meaning that the only people who can access it tend to be the vulnerable, the sick, the old and people with young children.'
'Any scheme that attempts to force people back to work by threatening them with homelessness will be an expensive, bureaucratic nightmare and cost the taxpayer much more than it would save.'
