Jobless to go to the back of queue for council housing

Unemployed people will be sent to the back of the queue for council housing under a London scheme set to be copied across the country.

Westminster is prioritising those with jobs as it bids to bring down its housing benefit bill. Adults who have been in work for two years- or actively seeking a job - will leapfrog those on the dole.

The Government immediately praised the scheme. Politicians from the three main parties are warning that the multi-billion-pound benefits bill has to be cut.

Housing minister Grant Shapps told the Standard: "Hardworking families instinctively know that the 'something for nothing' culture has to end and so it's right that councils are able to reflect local priorities in their housing policy."

With other town halls expected to follow Westminster's lead, he added: "Local authorities of all political persuasions are introducing measures to ensure that people who work hard, play by the rules and are responsible, get fair access to housing in this country."

In his speech to the Labour conference, party leader Ed Miliband also vowed to end the "something for nothing culture" and wants people who work or volunteer to get priority over benefit claimants on housing lists.

Richard Blakeway, Boris Johnson's housing adviser, said: "The Mayor supports anything which promotes people to get into work while balancing this with the responsibility to help the most vulnerable." The Coalition is imposing new caps of £400 a week on housing benefit and of £26,000 a year on overall benefits per household, though, this policy could be weakened slightly.

Ministers argue that people living on benefits should not be handed state payouts allowing them to live in homes which working families can only dream of buying or renting.

But housing charities and some senior MPs are warning that the measures could drive thousands of families out of central London and unfairly penalise people languishing on the dole despite wanting to find work.

Condemning the Westminster scheme, Alastair Murray, deputy director for Housing Justice, said: "Our concern is that housing is a basic human right and shouldn't be contingent on someone's capacity to earn a living.

"Quite a lot of homeless people do work but the kind of work they are able to do is quite unstable so they may not be eligible. There is a danger of stigmatising people who are already vulnerable."

He stressed that some people could be denied council homes because they could not provide the necessary paperwork to show they were working. The two year stipulation for being in work could also prove controversial.

Under the Westminster plans, up to 800 people in work, and their families, could benefit while a similar number of unemployed people would be shunted down the waiting list.

From January the council will give 50 points when assessing housing list
criteria for people who have been in work for more than two years, or at least looking for a job for the same period, or who have been resident in the borough for more than a decade.

This compares with between 200 and 250 points for medical needs and 100 to 300 for being in overcrowded accommodation.

Jobless adults, with no children, no medical needs and not in overcrowded accommodation would be put at the bottom of the list.

Westminster council's cabinet member for housing and corporate property, Jonathan Glanz, said the scheme "acknowledges and rewards" people who are "contributing to the economy".

He added: "Westminster has gone from having 48 per cent of people in social housing not working to 68 per cent. We have got so many people not working that it gives worklessness an attractiveness as a way of life."