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

[hecate]

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.

I can't really see the logic in threatening folk with homelessness unless they are working/actively seeking work - after all new homeless rules will mean that councils have to find a home for anyone presenting as homeless???

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

That does on first sight look shocking, but you have to ask how many council houses are there now compared to 1981? Maybe all those who had jobs and were in council housing then, bought the damn houses! As has been said already nowadays you have to be in seriously bad situations to get anywhere near council housing, and those people are more likely to be the ones who cannot work for some reason or another.

Why don't they put us all into camps together ? I'm sure that will make some people happy

55% compared with 20% in 1981 does appear to be a big jump in unemployed council tenants. But as with all statistics it hides other facts.

Vast amounts of council housing was sold off in the 80's. What was left was inhabited by those who couldn't afford to buy (including long term unemployed).

Now those who do work but can't afford to buy in the current housing market can't get a council house so they rent privately.

The council houses are now in such short supply that only those in desparate need and those stuck in the long term unemployment cycle live in them.

I do agree that the issue does need looking at, but without the conditions of tenancy attached to working. Both governments since the 80's have created this and they need to understand why it's happened.

thing is surely (presuming that they do it so that's its only those that CAN work who are threatened with eviction) the only people who are going to kick up a fuss are those that are too damn lazy to find a job......or refuse to do certain jobs because they're too "menial"???

Sorry to bore you Desiderata. I'm not sure if there's evidence to support that, but don't have figures so I'm not going to argue.

I didn't mean actual Mail readers in any case, but the stereotype of reactionary, middle(ish) class right wingers (those with a similar view point to the DM?). Sorry not to have been clearer.

george - but the article says

"he will suggest new council tenants who can work could sign"

so surely if you're in a position where you genuinely can't work this wouldn't affect you. I can only see this affecting the lazy tossers who abuse the system and make all council tenants look like lazy f*ckers (because of the media focusing on them all the time)

This story frustrates me so much. As a single mother working full time, I have been told that despite my huge housing costs (£600 a month privately renting, with a take home wage of &830 a month) I am low priority for council housing, whereas if I were unemployed my priority would rise. So what exactly is their message?! Not to mention that as I came here as a university student I am not eligable to be on the council list for x number of years, despite having been privately renting here for 4 years already, but that is another story

sorry for slight hijack..but how much are council rents roughly?

Around here (Exeter) I have friends in three bed houses with gardens who pay (through housing benefit, so no real expense to them) about £230 a month. IMO that is ridiculous, as the private rents are so expensive around here, yet the council calculates private renters housing benefit on their own rent costs which are years out of date.

omg that is low. a ha would be at least £400. never understood why the rents are so low in comparison to HA.

my council rent is almost £400 a month. we are on a sheltered scheme so pay more.

my neighbours are fine.

I understood the target was young men making the choice not to work but being housed. There are many in this category where I live, mooching around all day in cheap tracksuits with staffordshire bull terriers. Not automatically being given a place to live may provide some sort of incitement for them to work that is otherwise lacking for some reason. I live in central London so hardly an area of economic decline with no employment about.

Instinctively I thought it sounded sensible. I understood the disabled, and I would hope those caring for young children, would be excluded.

Agree with expat this should be 2 pronged attack on big business and wealthy individuals avoiding their tax obligations.

The state needs this money to spend on important things like care for the elderly (seemingly chronically underfunded) and of course hospitals and schools rather than funding young lads who dont fancy getting out of bed for a job.

agree with thedullwitch - this absolutely should be looked into rather than just letting people rot on benefits generation after generation. that is not the same thing as calling people "workshy spongers".

and there must be plenty of jobs - otherwise the economy could not have supported the mass immigration we have seen from eastern europe... that is worth looking at.

it's worth looking at, but tying your shelter to it?

no.

and the reason the economy has all these jobs out there to support mass immigration is because a large majority of these immigrants come here to work on their own, leaving their families behind in their home country.

they can then afford to live far more cheaply than a family, as they can share housing with others, in some cases many others, single discount on council tax, can be flexible with work hours because don'g have to look after the kids and most of all, work for the bare minimum or even less than that.

I wonder if the people that come up with these daft ideas have actually ever tried to get a job, as a single mum of 3, who doesn't drive, and has no qualifications and minimal work experiance.

I am trying to get onto a scheme Marks and Spencers are running where they offer you 2 weeks work experiance. It isn't something I have dreamt of doing, but I know that I need to get out and do some work, for my self esteem aswell as other reasons.

I have phones several times yesterday, and several times today, both times I have left messages asking for someone to please ring me back as I would like a place on the scheme.
No one has rung me, the line doesn't seem to be staffed at all.

So a scheme set up with probably some involvment from the government, and they don't even fund the satff to answer the bloody phone to people interested in doing something about making their lives a tiny bit better.

Local Councils like to rent to people who are unemployed, no worries about rent ect, my ds was told by his local council, "all the new houses are kept for u/e people as the rent is higher, older (crap)properties are avalible for people who work and do not claim benifits as the rent is cheaper"

I grew up on a council estate in Brent. Anyone not know where that is Google away.

It was a new estate when we move in (I was 2) it had parks and community, a local bobby called Malcome, and a mix of races, mostly minority races.

We lived there till I was 10, then moved to another estate near Wembley (everyone knows where Wembley is } my dad died while my sister and I were young, so we were raised by a single parent and for a time on benefits.

But guess what, neither my sister nor myself became crack whores, never got sent to jail, never owned a pit ball, sis has no children and is an investment banker, I have two children by my husband, we do not live on benefits, so perfectly nice decent people have been known to and still do live on council estates.

I do however agree that some of these estates should be condemned, I went back to where I grew up a while ago (had a bout of nostalgia as I was passing that way) and oh my god I wish I had kept passing, burnt out cars, gangs on corners openly selling drugs, polish over here black over there no sense of community as every ethnic group seemed to eye the others with contempt.
I was saddened by it as it was not the friendly place of my childhood.
And I would NEVER want to raise my children in a place like that and feel sorry for those who do. I am lucky and count my blessings, we live in a lovely area with good schools and nice people and I am glad of it .

But while yes some council estates do seem to be life's dumping ground for the undesirable types not everyone on a council estate is a low life work shy junkie.
Just like not everyone in Surrey drives a 4x4 and has a pony.

I grew up on a council estate and my parents still live there, and tbh, it is full of lazy people who COULD work but choose not too because life is quite cushty staying at home claiming benefits.

For example, my mums next door neighbour is 19. She has 2 kids with a 3rd on the way. Her boyfriend is 19 too, he is young fit and healthy, but he is uneployed. Instead he chooses to smoke dope, hold numerous poker nights and upset the local gangs so they smash his windows and doors 3 times over. They think they can throw their rubbish in the garden (not nagged) and the council come and tidy it up for them.

My Dad is a local councillor and could give you hundreds more examples of these people who all lazy.

I'm not council estate bashing at all. I come from one, I have been there, I see it today first hand.

You walk into my Dad's local working mens club and it's full of men who do not work but could.

i see LOADS of men who choose not to work
you fdont ened to be al left wing liberal abotu this
we haev men in court who havent worked in an area of affluence and lots of jobs since the 1990s

THEY ARE IDLE FECKERS