Flint: Council tenants must work or lose home

Ben Willis, Regen.net, 5 February 2008

In a newspaper interview ahead of her first speech in the role today, Caroline Flint said social housing tenants should actively seek work as a condition of their tenancy.

Flint took over from Yvette Cooper in the mini government reshuffle two weeks ago prompted by the resignation of Peter Hain.

She cited figures showing that over half of all council tenants of working age are unemployed - almost twice the national average - and three quarters under 25 are unemployed.

Although not yet government policy, under Flint's proposals tenants would be expected to enter into a "commitment contract" obliging them to seek work as a condition of their tenancy.

Initially, the contracts would apply to new council tenants, but could eventually be extended to existing tenants.

Flint told The Guardian: "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 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."

She added that living in social housing acted as a deterrent to people seeking work due to the sheer and growing concentrations of unemployment and poverty on such estates.

"If you are in a family, an estate or a neighbourhood where nobody works, that impacts on your own aspiration. It is a form of peer pressure."