Removing social housing stability 'perverse'
22 November 2010
Offering new social tenants contracts of as little as two years has been criticised by Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people.
The Housing Minister has announced that under new proposals to change the rules on how social housing is allocated and tenancy arrangements, new social tenants could face a review after as little as two years of living in social housing, which could mean them losing the stability of their social home.
Leslie Morphy, Chief Executive of Crisis, said: "In trying to help the millions of people stuck on social housing waiting lists the Government is focusing on the right issue. However removing the stability a social tenancy provides is absolutely not the solution.
"Due to many years of abject underinvestment in home building the stability offered by a social home is currently only available to the most vulnerable: those who have been homeless, escaped domestic violence or suffered from ill health. This is often the first real stability they will have experienced in their lives and to threaten to take this away after two years will prove unsettling at best. On top of this to reward a social tenant who has gone out and found work by shunting them into the less secure, more expensive private rented sector is perverse and counter-productive. It will also undermine the creation of the mixed communities we all want to see."
"The real, most cost-effective, solution for the millions on social housing waiting lists is to build more social rented housing. But with a 50% housing budget cut in the spending review we are further away from this than ever."
For further media information or request an interview with Crisis spokespeople, please contact Garry Lemon at Crisis on 020 7426 5652 or garry.lemon@crisis.org.uk
Ends
Notes to editors
Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Our innovative education, employment, housing and well-being services address individual needs and help people to transform their lives. We are determined campaigners, working to prevent people from becoming homeless and advocating solutions informed by research and our direct experience. We have ambitious plans for the future and are committed to help more people in more places across the UK. We know we won't end homelessness overnight or on our own. But we take a lead, collaborate with others and, together, make change happen.