Housing minister continues employment push
Thursday, 20 March 2008 12:00 AM
New housing minister Caroline Flint today continued to apply her old work and pensions brief to social housing.
Speaking on the challenges faced by people in social housing she singled out the risk of "intergenerational inactivity", where several generations are all out of work and living in social housing.
The government reports half of working age social tenants are out of work, compared to a third in 1981.
Last month Ms Flint sparked controversy by suggesting actively seeking work should be a condition of social tenancy.
Today she said: "The debate that I started a few weeks ago will continue over the coming months."
"The more that I've talked to those working in the sector, the more impressed I've been with the work that is already going on to try and address these issues," she continued.
"Social landlords are getting involved in a whole range of activities not just to tackle worklessness, but to overcome economic inequality and promote social mobility."
Speaking at a Housing Corporation event on worklessness, Ms Flint today said the government would help homeless people find job opportunities by allocating £70 million across 69 homeless projects across England.
The minister said the government wanted to do more to ensure people living in hostels are supported into employment, rather than just secure accommodation.
She said: "Over the past three years, the places of change programme has helped transform derelict dormitories into places which genuinely transform the lives of homeless people - breaking cycles of chaos and dependency and helping people rebuild their lives through training, volunteering and working.
"The number of formerly homeless people moving into independent living is up by thirty per cent as a result. We will now be measuring success through the numbers moving into training and work."
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