Flint defends 'work or lose home' proposal

Ben Willis, Regen.net, 13 February 2008

In a magazine article yesterday, she confronted critics who have accused her of "stigmatising" council housing tenants.

Last week, Flint sparked a flurry of debate when she said tenants should be prepared to enter into "commitment contracts" obliging them to look for work in exchange for a tenancy.

But writing in the New Statesman, Flint said: "Having been brought up in private rented and council housing, I make no apologies for starting this difficult debate. The level of worklessness on some estates is a stark problem."

Flint said the country's poorest areas were already stigmatised. "Unless we are honest enough to recognise the stigma that is already attached to some of our most difficult estates, we will never make a difference," she wrote.

And she dismissed critics who said the idea would unfairly discriminate against vulnerable tenants.

"Contrary to how some opponents have portrayed the debate, I made clear I was talking about expectations for new tenants who can work, not the vulnerable like the elderly, carers or those with disabilities who can't," Flint said.