LABOUR - 'HOUSING LIST SHAKE-UP WILL HURT JOBLESS' - City Hall say points system will be fairer for long-term residents

Published: 04 February 2011
by JOSH LOEB

CITY Hall plans to change its housing points system would disadvantage jobless people say Labour opposition politicans.

Housing chief Philippa Roe said the changes would benefit those in employment by bumping them up the waiting list.

People who have been living in Westminster for 10 years or more would also be given extra points. 

Currently, if someone qualifies for social housing they are awarded points based on their need and length of time waiting. 

Councillor Roe said the intention was to give the unemployed an incentive to restart their careers and that the council’s Westminster Works programme offered training and help finding a job.

But Labour housing spokesman Guthrie McKie warned the plan could lead to increased homelessness: “If you threaten to take away housing if you are not in work, you take away opportunities for unemployed people, particularly low-skilled or low-academically qualified people.” He added: “It is an urban myth that people are sitting at home and not wanting to work. There are large numbers of people, particularly young people, who are desperate for jobs. Under the current system, if you are actively seeking work, you can claim jobseeker’s allowance if you follow the rules, so why shouldn’t you be able to claim housing?”

His Labour colleague, Westminster North MP Karen Buck, said the plan was “more about good press releases than good policy”.

She said: “It raises other questions such as what will happen if someone has been in continuous employment for two years and loses their job through no fault of their own? They may lose their job with the council, which is making 1,000 people redundant. Will they be taken off the housing list? Of course not. It is a gimmick.”

Cllr Roe hit back, and said the city council needed to find a fair way of dealing with the massive demand for housing in central London.

She said: “You’ve got third-generation unemployed because, unfortunately, under the last government it became a lifestyle choice to be living on benefits all your life. I think it is very hard in an area like Westminster to claim there are no jobs. 

“We have probably one of the largest workforces in the country in Westminster, if not actually in Europe. Think of the turnover; think about waitressing and shop work; think of the turnover in that industry.”

Under the shake-up of the housing system, the council aims to reward those with “strong local connections”.

Cllr Roe said: “One of the things that local people constantly tell us about is that they need rehousing but that they are constantly pushed down the list though they’ve lived here for many years. We are never going to be able to house all of those who come to us and if we just had a more equitable way of prioritising people who genuinely are long-term Westminster residents then I think we would have a better system.”  

The city council says it will continue to give priority to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, are occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing, need to move on medical or welfare grounds or need to move to a particular part of the borough – for example if they are disabled and rely on specific support in that area.

The proposals are yet to go before full council.