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Original poster

Council tenants are workshy spongers, let's kick them out of their homes.

94 replies

hecate · 05/02/2008 10:10

apparently

The number of out of work people in council housing has risen dramatically and perhaps looking for work should be a condition of a council tenancy, according to Ms Flint. Why oh why are so many people in council accomodation not working. What's wrong with them? If they don't get a job they should be kicked out of their council house.

Well.

I'm no expert but I would like to hazard a guess that it is because there is such an extreme LACK OF SOCIAL HOUSING that only those people in the most desperate circumstances ever get anywhere near the top of the list, and these are the very people who are unable to work due to illness, disability, caring for disabled children etc etc.

Yet another kick people when they are down, attack the most vulnerable in the hope it's a vote winner, without actually looking what the problem REALLY is.

OP posts:
AuntyThesis · 05/02/2008 10:14

"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."

shelter - a basic human right. what a complete cock she is

hanaflower · 05/02/2008 10:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 05/02/2008 10:18

Once again, a government which targets an small sector of its economy, and one of the most vulnerable, children in poverty living in council accommodation.

Not a word about all the fat cat robber barons continuing to make massive profits off corporate welfare and being allowed to pay employees a non-living wage.

How stupid do they think we are?

kittywise · 05/02/2008 10:19

A lot of them could be lazy spongers though?

AuntyThesis · 05/02/2008 10:22

a lot of them could be one legged clowns.

expatinscotland · 05/02/2008 10:23

Yes, all these 'lazy spongers' and immigrants/asylum seekers are such a drain on the economy!

georgedontdothat · 05/02/2008 10:25

I live on a council estate and apart from a couple of single mums( one of whom is at college and the other has a sn lo) and a few pensioners on my road most of us work .
Gets me so mad when people tar us all with thge same brush I have a nice garden a nice home and my dc are well brought up but apparently I am a workshy scrounger

meemar · 05/02/2008 10:25

Agree with Hecate.

Simply working and being on a low income isn't enough to get you into a council house these days. You really need to have a desparate social need to get anywhere near the top of the list.

At least where I live anyway.

TheDullWitch · 05/02/2008 10:28

But is there anything wrong with assessing whether they need to acquire new skills to get back in the job market? There are many families in a second (or third) generation of not working.

Wouldn t it be a good thing to realise their potential? Because if they have a council tenancy, which they can pass on, it means their basic need for shelter is covered and other stuff by benefits. So there is no true imperative to make more of themselves. And after so long on dole, they are demoralised and demotivated.

I think it s better than letting them just all rot together on estates where we can all forget about them.

perpetualworrier · 05/02/2008 10:31

One thing's for sure "lazy spongers" don't vote.

Soft target and will win loads of votes from Daily Mail readers. I can already see my MIL jumping up and down with excitement (not that she's worked for the last 30 years, just happens to have a DH with a job)

expatinscotland · 05/02/2008 10:32

but to tie their tenancy to that and threaten them with eviction is wrong.

i'm so sick of the stick approach this government uses, because that's their solution to everything and it doesn't work.

FAQ · 05/02/2008 10:33

I think I can (sort of) see where she's coming from. There ARE a great number of people living in council accommodation that do not have anything (children, disability, illness etc) stopping them working -but they make no effort to find a job.

They are usually the ones that complain about "immigrants taking all our jobs"........because immigrants will take the low-paid "menial" jobs which a lot of the complainers refuse to even consider.....

AuntyThesis · 05/02/2008 10:34

the thing is CHoice based lettings or "i am so desperate have multiple disabilities , mental illness, been homeless desperate desperate people"

who get the top of the list council housing

does not equate with sustainable communities in that

single girl goes to college cant get a flat, wants to make something of her life
cant afford to privately rent.

cant afford to get mortgage

single mum, working full time, cant afford to rpivately rent, cant afford mortgage
not desperate enough to get on housing list.

there are schemes available to people in poorer communitites - many many many many many many schemes to help people back into work or upskill from crappy job, get off benefits.

it is there - it shouldnt be linked to whether you are HOUSED or not.

these facilities exist.

if people are claiming they have one leg when they dont - then we as a society have to ask ourselves

WHY WHY do they feel that life is good enough?

Original poster
hecate · 05/02/2008 10:35

Certainly. And if it was put like that, then great.

But it just smacks of - you workshy spongers with no pride get a job or we'll kick you out. It feels like it is not about helping people, but about chasing votes by stirring up those people in society who like to go after others with pitchforks.

OP posts:
KerryMum · 05/02/2008 10:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
hecate · 05/02/2008 10:35

that was to dullwitch btw, x posted!

OP posts:
TheDullWitch · 05/02/2008 10:37

55 per cent of council tenants are unemployed - it was 20 per cent in 1981 when there was much more unemployment.

That is shocking. I don t think there is anything wrong with looking into the reasons for this. There is nothing in the report about evicting the unemployed.

Desiderata · 05/02/2008 10:37

Plenty of Daily Mail readers live on Council estates. That line is so bloody dull.

This government have passed legislation that impacts on the right to buy option, abolished assisted places, and is wholly responsible for the gap between richer and poor getting wider.

Why are you surprised that they want to go further? They've been a bunch of wank stains right from the off.

KerryMum · 05/02/2008 10:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FAQ · 05/02/2008 10:39

perhaps a less controversial way of getting people to find a job is to tighten up the "rules" which people have to abide by when it comes to looking for working/claiming JSA....something daft like "5 actions a week".

So they could

buy the job paper
write a letter
visit the job centre to look at the jobs on their database
Fill in an application form

and that's them sorted for one week!

expatinscotland · 05/02/2008 10:41

They already do this for people on JSA, FAQ.

They have to submit a form when they sign on.

FAQ · 05/02/2008 10:42

yes I know - but it's silly - because they can make virtually NO effort at all and get their JSA!

expatinscotland · 05/02/2008 10:44

It's not as cut and dried as that, FAQ, but you can't expect the government-by-target to realise that.

FAQ · 05/02/2008 10:46

well my DB has been claiming JSA for quite some time now.....after claiming incapacity benefit for a year and this is what he's told me. Fair enough it's worked for him - as it's meant that he's now (hopefully) managed to finally get onto a training course to do work that will make him happy. But he himself has said that the effort required to be able to continue claiming it is quite frankly ridiculously small.

Elphaba · 05/02/2008 10:47

I've not read the article so can't really comment on it, however I do always find it quite amusing that some people on MN seem to look at the world through rose-tinted spectacles and think that everyone is an honest, hard-working individual who lives in poor circumstances through no fault of their own.

Sorry, but you're living in cloud cuckoo land - there are work-shy, lazy lay-abouts in existence - lots of them. Lots of people who could have done something to change their life and make it better but they choose not to. Why is that so hard to believe and should we not try to address it?