YOUNG, UNEMPLOYED SINGLES WILL BE LEAST LIKELY TO GET COUNCIL HOMES
Unemployed graduates could find themselves at the back of the queue for council housing, if a new scheme being trialled in London is rolled out nationwide. The central London borough of Westminster has announced that it is prioritising homes for those with jobs as it bids to bring down the housing benefit bill, by allowing adults who have been in work for two years to leapfrog those on the dole.
While the scheme is aimed at reducing the large number of work-shy unemployed who see joblessness as a lifestyle choice, there is a danger that down-on-their-luck graduates who are trying their best to find work could also be penalised. As the largest group of unemployed by far, young people are likely to be impacted disproportionately by the changes, particularly those without children.
Thousands of graduates are already struggling to make their degrees pay off – and if this new scheme is adopted things could get even tougher. Graduate Fog recently received an email from a graduate who was entirely dependent on government handouts. He said it was not his choice to live like this – he had applied for hundreds of jobs since finishing his degree two years ago. Many other graduates have been shocked to find themselves claiming housing benefit and JSA after graduating – having assumed their degree would lead to a good job.
Is it just us, or is the thinking behind this policy rather topsy turvy? We understand the concept of rewarding those who are trying to break out of poverty – as opposed to those making no effort. But surely if people are in work, they be able to afford to pay for their own housing? Is this latest scheme yet further proof that workers’ wages simply aren’t high enough – and the cost of renting in the private sector urgently needs to be brought down so that fewer people need government hand-outs?
The Government immediately praised the new scheme – but unemployed graduates are likely to feel angry and ask why they are now being penalised for their inability to find a well-paid job. After all, aren’t the politicians in favour of this scheme the same people who keep telling a generation of young people that spending tens of thousands of pounds on a university degree is still a good investment?
*Should unemployed graduates be offered council housing?
Is it right that young unemployed people should go to the back of the queue? Should housing benefit be given to those who are working – or not working? Does it make you angry that young people who have taken all the official advice given to them are now being left out in the cold?
Yet more good news for young people. I love this country 😀
Hmm tenuous link here, me thinks as this isn’t a graduate issue – it’s an issue for any person who hasn’t inherited wealth and who has an average or below average salary.
Any graduate can put themselves on the council waiting list but I doubt there’s any possibility of them getting a council flat, either now or ten years down the line. Council housing goes to people with children living in overcrowded conditions or to vulnerable people (potentially single – disabled; homeless; history of domestic violence). There aren’t enough council properties to go round so no single young person with a degree is going to get one anymore because they won’t be considered as needy enough, whether they happen to be in work or out of it.
I think the point to consider here isn’t along the lines of: if someone has a job surely they don’t ‘need’ subsidised council housing? – as the article suggests… It’s more the case if there are to be crap low paid jobs and permanent volunteering roles legally acceptable and widespread in the economy (to the benefit of business), then people doing such jobs (people who aren’t working for a living wage) should at least have the benefit of secure and affordable social housing. How else could they live?
It is yet another case of the taxpayer pulling up the slack when businesses pay terrible wages that people can’t live on.
Grads today can forget the idea of a council house tenancy – there aren’t enough to go round as they have been systematically sold off over the last 20+ years and not replaced. The only option for poor grads today: exensive and insecure rental in the private sector.
Of course graduates should take precedence over – lets say a low paid working woman in an abusive relationship desperately in need of support and somewhere to live in safety. I’m ashamed at the way we treat graduates in this country – they are the masters of our future and rightly deserve everything on a plate.
@Joddle
I agree this isn’t a “graduate issue” – but it is an issue that affects graduates, which is why I ran this story. If the Government is going to start penalising those who are unemployed, they must do a lot more to help those people to find work (or get paid for the unpaid work you are doing). In other words, they have a responsibility towards you. In my opinion, this is more true for young people than anybody, because young people make up a disproportionate amount of the unemployed people in this country. I also think it ties into the graduate debate, because these same politicians have encouraged you to make a huge investment in your university education – yet when you graduate you are completely abandoned because as you say:
Their narrative just doensn’t make sense, so I was trying to point out the inconsistency. First young people are told (by politicians, teachers etc) to invest in your education to get a better (and better paid) job – but then you’re expected to work unpaid for months (years?) in order to get this job (as the same politicians won’t enforce the NMW), and then when you finally do get the job, you discover that it only pays 16k a year, which isnt’ enough to live on without benefits or help fro you support. Oh, and until you get that job, you’re expected to survive by living at home or asking for money from your parents – something which just isn’t an option for many people.
I know it’s a crazy system and the messages from government are full of inconsistencies. There is such a big push for volunteering, but to me it seems a push for permanent volunteering without paid jobs in which to progress.
There’s a new ad on the tube for Team London, the Mayor’s volunteering body. It makes me so angry and is the worst kind of volunteering message to send out:
‘Every day young Londoners offer their skills, clean the streets to make London a better place. Team London’
And why I ask should it specifically be young people volunteering to clean the streets? This used to be a paid job. Street cleaning shouldn’t be a volunteering opportunity. Is street cleaning supposed to reflect the magnitude of young people’s skills? What propaganda.
There must be heavy lobbying against establishing a London Living Wage because if you ask me it makes perfect sense – if people were paid a living wage they would be able to pay their rent themselves and not require top up benefits.
@Robin for your information, perhaps you didn’t get my meaning. I fully support the right to council housing. There should be enough council housing for vulnerable people and all other people on low wages, including myself. Council housing used to make up a much higher proportion of the market but now it is full of speculators trying to make a quick buck
There’s an easy answer to all of this – and it’s being provided by those brave individuals across the Atlantic who have joined the ‘Occupy’ movement, which I hope will take off here as well. It’s time to bring the corporations crashing down.
Typical politics – pandering to the tax payer 😉
I must be one of a kind then! I put my name down for council housing shortly before starting university and didn’t bid for a property, just came my name down to build up my waiting time. About 6 months after graduating, I started bidding as I had 3 and a bit years waiting time, and I was offered a flat on the 9th floor of a tower block. I refused this offer as I didn’t want it nor did I remember bidding on it. 3 months later, I was offered a lovely 1 bed ground floor flat with RTB which I’m totally in love with…I’m so obsessed I’ve redecorated three times already! I’m lucky as I’m not on a so called ‘graduate salary’ and just earn a modest £14k so renting from the council at under £250 pcm is life saving especially as I’m trying to save up. My message to people is to put your names down on housing registers and just make sure you’re active (i.e. bidding on the maximum you can every week.) something will come up EVENTIALLY, but with your attitudes of ‘I’m a grad I’ll never get housed’, you really aren’t helping yourselves!