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MP slams council homes 'fixed term'
PLANS to end the right of council tenants to a home for life will 'stigmatise' families who live in social housing, a senior Sheffield Labour MP said today.
Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts slammed the Government proposals, which he predicted will provoke a Labour backbench revolt.
He made his comments after reports that ministers are considering forcing new tenants to accept fixed-term contracts with regular reviews every few years.
Under the planned shake-up, if a tenant's financial position improved, he or she would be encouraged to take an equity share or to move to the private sector. If they refused they could face higher rents.
The proposal is believed to have been included in a Government green paper to be published in the new year.
The green paper may also include a previously floated plan to link council housing to a requirement to have or be seeking a job.
But Mr Betts, a member of the influential Commons communities select committee, said: "Many of us are pretty uncomfortable about some of these ideas.
"I have no problem with probationary tenancies but I would have a problem with a point of view that says council housing is just for poorer people.
"It would be denigrating council housing and stigmatising it as housing for poor people."
Sheffield Brightside MP David Blunkett said: "Anyone who wants to create ghettos of the most needy and disadvantaged needs their head examining. All the effort at the moment is to try and create mixed communities and this means people with a bit of cash being free to rent and contribute to the community around them in a positive effort to avoid stigmatising social housing."
It is believed the measures are being considered by housing minister Margaret Beckett as a way of bringing down the huge council house waiting lists.
Sheffield has the longest council house waiting list in the country. A staggering 87,773 households are waiting for a home – equivalent to 39.7 per cent of the city.
In Rotherham 18,551 households are waiting for a council house, in Barnsley it's 6,487 and in Doncaster the figure stands at 10,751.
The rise in people applying for social housing over the last five years is partly caused by demographic changes, immigration and more people living on their own.
But it is also a result of a 12-year fall in the construction of council and housing association homes.
Mr Betts said the Government should be doing more to help councils build more social housing.
He said: "They should focus on getting houses built for rent."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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