Flint to reveal 'look for work or lose your council house' plans » Housing » 24dash.com

Unemployed people could be made to look for work as a condition of their council tenancies, Caroline Flint will say in her first major speech as housing minister today.

Ms Flint will call for a national debate on radical suggestions to break the link between social housing and worklessness following a dramatic fall in the number of council tenants in work over the past 25 years.

In a speech to the Fabian Society today, she will suggest new council tenants who can work could sign "commitment contracts" when getting a tenancy, agreeing to actively seek employment.

She will also set out proposals to build more affordable homes for first-time buyers and families and for council tenants to be given the right to claim compensation when services fall short.

The jobseeking contracts could be extended to existing tenants in a move which would affect up to a million people.

As well as actively searching for work, the documents would also require signatories to undertake skills checks to ensure that they are equipping themselves for potential jobs.

The suggestion comes as statistics reveal the number of unemployed council tenants has risen by 20% to 55% since 1981.

Ms Flint will say: "The link between social housing and worklessness is stark. I am concerned about what has been called a collapse in the number of people in council housing in work over the past 25 years.

"Council housing was originally somewhere which brought together people from different social backgrounds and professions but this has declined. We need to think radically and start a national debate about whether we can reverse this trend, and have strong, diverse estates with a mix of people.

"Council and social housing must continue to support the most vulnerable in society, but it should also be a springboard to opportunity, not just a safety net.

"We all agree that social housing is about more than bricks and mortar - more than handing over the keys and leaving tenants to get on with it for the next thirty years. And it isn't so many years ago that a council house was something to prize.

"I believe that we can recapture that sense of pride, creating a culture within social housing that promotes opportunity and social mobility, inspiring people to take control of their own lives.

"We are winning the argument but I want to try to establish a national consensus that building more homes - including more social and affordable housing - is absolutely the right thing to do. That will remain my first priority, and I intend to make sure that the momentum continues to build over the coming months."

She will state that social housing must play a vital part in supporting society's most vulnerable, including those with disabilities and the elderly, but say there is clear evidence that there are many long-term unemployed in social housing who maybe able to find employment with the right support.

The issue of the link between increasing worklessness and social housing was highlighted in the Hills report, which looked at the future role of social housing.

Alongside this debate, Ms Flint will be working with Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and Employment Minister Stephen Timms on how to address the issues raised.

In today's speech Ms Flint will set out key areas she wants to explore including giving a higher priority on housing waiting lists to existing social tenants who need to move to take up a job elsewhere, incentives for tenants to buy a stake in their home, and having job advisers based in council estates.

Shadow housing minister Grants Shapps accused Ms Flint of trying to "grab the headlines" with proposals which could not be legally enforced.

"Ministers and local councils have a statutory duty to house homeless families with children and so they can't boot them out of their houses without then providing alternative accommodation," he said.

"What we've heard is classic Labour spin - designed to sound tough, but is in reality meaningless."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said: “This sort of tough sounding rhetoric is a shallow attempt to mask the real problems that Labour has ignored for years: low skills, low aspiration, and poor access to professional support.

“Caroline Flint is dreaming if she thinks an empty threat of eviction is going to get people back into long-term jobs. Training and support are what is needed, not a headline-grabbing plan that will no doubt be quietly shelved in a few weeks.

“The Government has a responsibility to provide the right support for people to get back into work. Millions of people on benefits want to work and would be doing so today if the Government had tackled these problems 10 years ago.”

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Housing charity Shelter, said: "The Government wants to return Britain's unemployed to the workhouse by throwing them onto the streets.

"What is being proposed would destroy families and communities and add to the thousands who are already homeless.

"We accept there's a problem with some unemployed people shying away from work, but the Government must find other ways to tackle the issue like revamping the housing benefit system.

"Making people homeless means they do not have an address, which makes it even more difficult to find work.

"The Government's failure to invest in housing means the only people occupying social homes are the most disadvantaged in our society. Any scheme like this would be hugely expensive and simply condemn already vulnerable people and their families."

The National Housing Federation, which represents England's housing associations, says that a 'work or lose your home' policy for social housing tenants would be unfair and impossible to enforce.

Chief executive of the National Housing Federation David Orr said: "Efforts to help social housing tenants into work are very welcome. But threatening tenants with the loss of their home is absolutely the wrong way to go about it.

"Such a policy would be unfair and impossible to enforce. Many of the jobs open to people, especially at the lower skills end, are insecure or temporary. Also, people with health problems, such as mental health issues may find there are periods when they cannot keep up their job.

"Instead of taking a punitive approach, the Government should build upon the successful employment schemes already being run by housing associations around the country.

"In Yorkshire and Humberside alone, where Caroline Flint's constituency is based, housing associations have provided training to 16,600 people over the last five years, and helped 2,800 young people to gain formal qualifications."