• Comment: Voters will back help for working poor

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I don't agree with the new housing rules, there are some familys that are in genuine need of housing and they are getting shoved to the back in favour of people who already have jobs (and can actually afford to buy or rent their own homes) and illegal immigrants who speak little to no english. Illegal immigrants should be deported back to their own countries the minute the get here to stop them claiming any sort of DSS handouts or council housing, and people who work should try to find a place of their own within private housing before going to the council, and the council should do some proper work and vet through their tennants and kick out the ones who are trouble makers, teenage parents and people who prefer to sit on their backsides and do nothing but let their kids run amok. The goverment needs to sort this country out !

- Natasha Walker, Wandsworth London, 23/10/2011 03:17
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This is such a broad and controversial issue.i'd like for it to be seen as a larger picture d govt not doung enough to tackle d primary issues of unemployment and shortage of housing.
I would definitely like a test-run of the new policy to see how fair it will turn out.
I av bin working for 28mnths,paying tax,paying rent for 25months,never dodged a fare and have no criminal record and when i hear benefit claimants with repeat offenses bragging about how good they've got it and not having to work six days a week like i do,then you'll forgive me for siding with the new policy,i can understand that there are genuine ones but you will agree that the fraudulent and lazy ones have become quite substantial in number of late!

- tunde etti, leyton, English by birth&Nigerian by descent, 29/09/2011 23:34
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That's right folks, go hunting for unemployed scalps again, why not. The fat cats must be loving the show.

- Steven Gonzalvez, London, England, 29/09/2011 22:21
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O'dear, sorry,O'leary, Walthamstow London : I see that you are being critizized after your comments...but you've got it right. Some might just want to change the order a little...but basically you are right.

- Eduardo, Biarritz, France, 29/09/2011 06:51
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About time too..why wait till January.....

- Al., manila philippines, 29/09/2011 04:02
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@crystally disaffected
Thanks but decided to give up on Westminster Council months ago! Have applied for housing with a different authority and seem to be getting somewhere.Plus I have only been working for 1 year and half before this I was at university so they will probably refuse to give me the 50 points ! I am now worried that the new authority will do the same when they apply the same rules, but hopefully they will make an exception to people who have been in education and have tried to better themselves ? ??

- Leah, Westminster, 29/09/2011 00:56
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Most of the unemployed in Westminster want to work. A minority avoids work because they prefer to live free & poor, but for most who don't get jobs the reasons are much more complicated, but they include the failure of the education system to properly identify and support children with learning difficulties. There is a whole subculture of people whose families have been out of work for more than one generation and who simply and very deeply have no concept in their minds that they could ever be capable of doing any job. Many are semi-literate. There is no culture of seeing education as being of benefit or 'for them' at all. Sorting this out takes intensive intervention, proven to be successful but initially costly. Medium to long term there are huge economic and social benefits to society, but no-one plans for the long term in politics. Until society is willing to deal properly with these problems, created by a succession of governments and society turning it's back, it is just non-productive and cruel to penalise the probably unemployable by denying what is a basic human right, the right to a reasonably OK home. Human right means human right, not one for some humans selected according to the whim of those in a far far better position financially and socially. I am wondering if this demonisation of the deprived is similar to how it started in Germany before WW2. The better-off should take responsibility for the society they have created and contribute towards real solutions.

- Swamped, London UK, 28/09/2011 23:02
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Westminster gives priority to refugees and immigrants in the borough and not those working in the borough. Social housing was and is meant for those who cannot afford a deposit or purchase their own homes. Not for Refugees and asylum seekers who play the system (many have 2 flats one in her name and one in his they live in one and rent out the other on the black market this is prolific in Westminster as the local Authority doesnt check)Local authorities dont conduct the relevant checks. Refugees and asylum seekers are given 1/2 bedroom flats whilst brits have to make do. Social housing wasnt meant for the someone who earns £25k a year either, or for the economic migrant whose first port of call is the local dss office to see what s/he's entitled to. It's time we started taking care of our own. The streets of London arent paved with gold and the sooner the refugees/immigrants realise this and stop coming to England then we'd be able to look after our own.

- Samantha, London, 28/09/2011 22:30
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And what is offensive about Sean o leary's coments????? He is speaking how millions feel but are too frightened to say for fear of being labelled racist (yawn yawn yawn yawn zzzzzz) at last someone speaking the TRUTh

- Lewis, Kensington, 28/09/2011 20:02
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@ Angie - I don't think it was 'fellow EU' citizens O'Leary was worried so much about. Leastways it's not them taking the bulk of housing in my borough. Also, frankly, if I was from another EU country I'd be legging it home so fast you wouldn't see me for dust... unless.... I had a lovely council flat and full benefits.

- crystally_disaffected, Camden iNNIT, 28/09/2011 19:57
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SEAN O'LEARY,

Your coments are offensive and narrow minded. In the first place, why are all these people allowed to stay in the UK. Why can they not be held in Transit centers till its save to return them to their countries. Discriminating against fellow EU citizens because they were not born here, is not acceptable.

- Angie King, London, UK, 28/09/2011 19:48
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Throw all the immigrants who are sponging of us out of their council houses and you would have room for the people who work and contribute to the country to move into them, FACT!

- The prophet of doom, UK Dustbin of Europe, 28/09/2011 19:33
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@ Leah, you need housing advice FAST, preferably from a Solicitor. You can register on the Housing Allocations system for your borough online - - therby skipping the process of being LIED TO by officials employed by Local Authorities to spread disinformation and prioritise finding housing for refugees only.

On separate issues, WHY WHY WHY in this time of housing crisis which is triggering racism, hostility, prejudice against the misfortunate and vulnerable.... PLEASE TELL why Councils of ALL London Boroughs, including staunch Loony Labour Camden, are STILL selling off Council Homes to residents at a massive discounts? People simply buy up for next to nothing, then rent out to students - thereby making everyone's life a misery, profiting from their greed, and permanently removing a home from the social housing stock. Also, WHY are the issues of under-occupancy (ie single mother of 3 grown up kids living alone in 4 bed house) -and- illegal sublets where the LA have been notified still not being addressed? On my estate nearly all the Council owned 3 bed huge flats are under-occupied by single older women. This is MADNESS!!! There was also talk in Camden that extremely wealthy persons should be asked to 'move along' and buy a home instead of taking up Social Housing but this hasn't happened even in our 'socialist' area. *Could it be that our civil servants, Councillors, MPs, their friends, relatives, are the very people benefitting way too much to implement any schemes?

- crystally_disaffected, Camden iNNIT, 28/09/2011 19:25
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First on the list should be those that were born in ENGLAND then Disabled then those that are in full time work and paying taxes. immgrants and assylum seekers should always be put to the bottom of the very long waiting lists and not allowed to go to the front of the list ahead of aboriginal ENGLIH. Foreigners should not be allowed dissability of any sort, benefits of any sort or Housing of any sort until they have worked a full 10 years paying a full 10 years tax into the pot, this should include claiming for child benefit. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING SNUBBED BY OUR OWN GVT . ENGLISH FIRST and YES MY NAME IS O'LEARY BUT I WAS BORN IN EAST LONDON.

- Sean O'leary, Walthamstow London, 28/09/2011 19:23
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I am pregnant and work full-time in Westminster and was refused to be even put on the list for council housing as I have only lived in the borough for 1 year. Apperently you have to live in the borough for 3 years. I will now have to move to a different area meaning I will have to give up my job as the commute is too far. When I asked why asylum seekers are put on the list i was told by the housing officer "if you did my job you would understand". I think that they should change the rules to give priority to people who have lived in the country for over 3 years rather than discriminate against them.

- Leah, Westminster, 28/09/2011 19:10
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A system that cannot house, employ, feed and generally protect the people whose lives it wants to rule over, will not survive. It is only its capacity to do those things that legitimises it in the first place. Trumpeting abuse and denouncing those suffering at the hands of such a crisis-troubled system, just advertises the fact that a system is not working and is not likely to be working any time soon. It is not wise to threaten people with ruin and humiliation, because people who see that as the essential message will draw conclusions that will better ensure they survive what the inhumane stewards and hangers intend for them.

- Peter London, London, United Kingdom, 28/09/2011 18:59
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I am pregnant and work full-time in Westminster, when I asked Westminster Council to put me on the housing list they refused as I have not lived in the borough for 3 years. When I asked how come asylum seekers dont have to live in the borough for 3 years to get housing was told by the housing officer that "I didnt have to do his job so wouldnt understand". Luckily another council where I have a local connection is offering to help, but it means I will have to give up my job because the commute is too long. Hopefully I can find a new job straight away if not the council should look at take into consideration why I am unemployed! I think that Westminster council should change the rules and refuse housing to those that have not lived in this country for over 3 years. Rather than discriminate against those that have.

- Leah, Westminster, 28/09/2011 18:59
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Crystally,In what am I wrong,council housing were. available to anyone,I got my first council flat after two years on the waiting list,I was working full time and so was my wife.This was how it used to be its what most people did until Mrs Thatcher sold them all and they wound up in the hands of greedy land grabbers.

- bazza, London, 28/09/2011 18:55
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What I do not get is why it is so terrible for some people to move. We are a working family, we had a little flat in Fulham, we got kids and needed more space. We could not afford to buy a house in Fulham so we had to move out. If we had been living on benefits then the council would have found us a bigger flat/house in fulham, because apparently it is so terrible for them to move to more affordable places. I do not understand why.

Another thing I do not understand is why people like Bob Crow on 140K a year can live in subsidized council flats. In other countries like Norway council homes are just a temporary help and only for those in real need

- Focusen, Fulham, 28/09/2011 18:49
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I know a friend who suffers from epilepsy - and up until 2004 had been a chef for close on thirty years. And now he may have to suffer some kind of 'social cleansing' (id est; leave city of birth) to make squealing ABC1 black-top populist rag readers, tourists - and the odd visitor from beyond the M25 noose who has relatives from within to feel safe again.
So - no more London for, as Hades93 yells 'the great unwashed from overseas immigrating for freebies and a cushy life.' What about the equally unwashed from WITHIN the noose - or even the sad lot from the provinces who will add a few more Estuary tones to their oral delivery every episode of EastEnders they watch, hoping to live here one day, after the government in power has slashed jobs up north (once again)?

- Harpur, Fulham, 28/09/2011 18:30
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Yes KH, she goes in a hostel - as do all the "homeless" in the first instance - either hostel or hotels or whatever is available - then they get their council flat as they are ususally given more points for being "homeless" in the first place and the council needs that place in that hostel for the next lot that will become homeless; what Westmisnter is doing is giving more points (or whatever priority they give) to other groups of people to make sure that if you are working you will be able to jump that hurdle; but currently the homelessness legislation is still alive and well.

- Michou, Essex, 28/09/2011 18:04
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Kh London stop your hilarious you obviously do not have the intelligence to formulate a logical argument/ debate and instead personally attack people therefore I can't be bothered to enter into discussion with you must go I,ve got a bottle of verve clicqot on chill
Lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Bj, Birmingham, 28/09/2011 18:03
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Kh London you sound as though you are consumed and eaten up by bitterness and hatred... How sad

- Neil, Brixton, 28/09/2011 17:52
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Westminster Council should start with that lovely development (with fountains) on Edgware Road, and throw out the hundred or so jobless, asylum seekers, immigrants, etc. who are enjoying living in these luxury blocks. It is an easy life - no rent, council tax, utilities - just benefit money arriving every week. I'm sure people with jobs would appreciate (and deserve) to live in central London where it doesn't cost them a fortune and hours travelling to work.

- RichardG, Bolton, 28/09/2011 17:42
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Oh dear oh dear oh dear .. Kh London the chips on your shoulder are cooking very nicely and well said Bj Birmingham

- Lewis, Kensington, 28/09/2011 17:21
oh dear Lewis - you live in Kensington??? that says it all to me.
funny how you right wing bigots feel that anyone with any sense of community have a 'chip on their shoulder'
please read my reply to Bj - it applies to you too.

and then go away...........................

- KH, London UK, 28/09/2011 17:39
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KH you are wrong and Nora Kane is right; pregnant girls still qualify for council housing as do "homeless 16-17 years old" allegedly thrown out of the parental home - this is under the homeless legislation which trumps the normal waiting list.

no this is wrong Michou. and i love the way you say 'allegedly' thrown out of the family home!! if a young girl is pregnant and homeless she is forced to stay in a hostel with many others. She is not made a priority and will not 'trump' the normal waiting list.
And before you all start sweating over you keyboards again yes i agree it would be better if a 16 year old girl did not become pregnant in the first place.........................

- KH, London UK, 28/09/2011 17:38
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Utterly disgusting, creating an apartheid of the poor and probably illegal. What a commentary on the ethics produced by 18 months of coalition government. Where are the LibDem condemnations now?

- Corin, London, 28/09/2011 17:32
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KH you are wrong and Nora Kane is right; pregnant girls still qualify for council housing as do "homeless 16-17 years old" allegedly thrown out of the parental home - this is under the homeless legislation which trumps the normal waiting list.
Yes the unemployed will have to go into private rented flats at a greater cost - but that is likely to be out of London soon because of the changes to the housing benefit which will not pay for London rents; this is the reason that the employed will be allocated council housing - so they can afford to remain in London to do their jobs, to make it worth their while to remain employed and to reward them for not sitting on their backsides. These are the people who do our essential low paid jobs, cleaning our hospitals, driving buses (not tubes they are overpaid) etc.
If you are unemployed and not looking for work you may as well be in private rented and live out of London. We have had years of full employment, particularly in London and a large number of people have elected not to work and live on benefits in London - they have no excuses and this is payback time hopefully.

- Michou, Essex, 28/09/2011 17:30
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"Joke headlines like this will not fool us that Condem are going to change anything- remus, london"

You said it all!

Fiddling with the housing lists won't make people disappear into thin air, so if they are not housed in the very few remaining council flats, they'll be housed in the much more expensive private accommodation.

A pox on all the politicians.

- John Smith, London, EUSSR, 28/09/2011 17:30
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Oh dear oh dear oh dear .. Kh London the chips on your shoulder are cooking very nicely and well said Bj Birmingham

- Lewis, Kensington, 28/09/2011 17:21
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the tory onslaught on the poor continues there the same scapegoating cowards they have always been! yet the bankers and tax dodgers who cost this country £110 billion a year get away with murder typical .

- steve, bow e3, 28/09/2011 17:10
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And how is that racist – i pay my tax like him and i do not want to pay for other families from abroad.
Common sense not racist.

- david west, west london, 28/09/2011 16:09

Correction - cowardice AND racist (because you don't want to openly admit that you are), not common sense.

- Mark, St Albans, 28/09/2011 16:53
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Kh London .. So what is so special about you don,t why don,t you educate yourself ,study for a degree and then you may enter a profession of your choice and not rely on jobseekers allowance and no you shouldn't expect everything for nothing or is it handwork and applying yourself to something an issue you have difficulty with sounds like it ... Ever thought thought of studying sociology reading you pathetic posts I'm sure you,d do fine

- Bj, Birmingham, 28/09/2011 16:53
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As usual, a lot of people have not read the story, and as often happens, the Standard creates an incorrect headline simply for the shock value.

"Adults who have been in work for two years- or actively seeking a job - will leapfrog those on the dole."

To keep getting your jobseekers allowance you must be 'actively seeking a job'. You have to fill in a form saying what you've been doing to get work every fortnight before they validate your next payment.

So people on the dole will NOT be struck off the housing list, but those not seeking JSA but who are jobless will be struck off (tho' there can't be many of them).

- D. Short, London, 28/09/2011 16:51
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the days of teenage girls getting council housing due to pregnancy are LONG GONE
KH, London UK, 28/09/2011 15:39
Wrong KH. It happens on a regular basis.

- Nora Kane, London, 28/09/2011 16:48
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Am I missing something here? What will now happen to the unemployed and their families?

Seem to me that this is just another cynical headline grabbing policy that will be quietly dropped at some future date. At the very least, the unemployed and their families will qualify for housing benefits. Private sector accommodations are almost certain to be more expensive than council accommodations. Who will now end up footing the bill for homeless unemployed and their families living in private sector accommodations? Unless I am missing something, the taxpayers don’t you know.

- Franklin, Thornton Heath, 28/09/2011 16:41
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Given the reality that the majority of people in the UK do not in fact pay their way with the result that the country has to borrow a huge sum every year to support the life style that we have become accustomed to but cannot afford, it is a matter of grave concern that Alastair Murray, deputy director for Housing Justice, is reported to have said: "Our concern is that housing is a basic human right and shouldn't be contingent on someone's capacity to earn a living...”

I have a lot of respect for Housing Justice, but this is an ideological view based on a rather utopian perspective of the economics of where we are. The best way to help people is to encourage them to help themselves.

- Sir Notso Stu Pidfool, London, 28/09/2011 16:33
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A lot of us who have lived here for many years find it appalling that this has come down to this phase. People who lived in council houses when I was young had a job, had morals, also did not single out groups or individuals but lived together, and had loyalty to this country. I can see on this comments page that people just moan about others ( mark st albans)but it is true somewhat that we who have been here a long time are fed up with who gets put first, I totally agree come to England, have a job first, no asylum and no more immigration, then 5 years before any housing is given no job out, no if's or but's.
I also have a cloud cuckoo on my land!

- Ed, London, 28/09/2011 16:22
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Liberal And Cowed, I am not sure whether this is a wind up or not. “... You can't push people from pillar to post simply because they refuse to work, that's appalling...”

The idea that people have rights – human or not – and that they have no corresponding responsibilities is absurd. No one has the right to refuse to work. Some will be unable to work and the system should reflect that, but in a pragmatic way. The avoidance of work as a life style choice, and in so doing deliberately deciding to sponge of the rest of the country, is unacceptable.

- Sir Notso Stu Pidfool, London, 28/09/2011 16:20
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Errrm - have I just woken up here?? How is it some of you posting negative comments about the unemployed are able to do so during the working (WORKING) week? What do you lot do? How can you manage to get this site through your company's firewall? Are they paying for you to make comments on here? I thought not. Just remember 1 thing - redundancy is just around the corner for some of you (and I really hope not), and your stance will be very different when you lose your lucretive job, car, benefits etc etc. It can happen to anyone so don't be so smug.

- Rod, Epping, UK, 28/09/2011 16:19
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..'There is a danger of stigmatising people who are already vulnerable."
Er, surely that's the intention? The ghost of Shirley Porter still stalks Westminster.But even her own supporters stared moaning about her prole-cleansing habits when they realised they couldn't get hold of domestic staff.
If the borough wants to stage a boycott of the least fortunate, we can respond by boycotting Westminster: shop at Stratford or Shepherds Bush, go to an out-of-town cinema or theatre, get to your home station before you go to the pub after work. London is full of choices, after all.

- mdj, London e10, 28/09/2011 16:17
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Ah, Hamilton Straker - I see you've found another platform on the forum to spew your odious racism then.....

- Mark, St Albans, 28/09/2011 15:16

Well said Mark. i was thinking the same thing. In fact i have sent the ES a total of 3 comments today regarding Hamilton's and others odious racist and class biased views, and guess what??? the ES has not printed any of them- oh quelle surprise!!! This paper is a disgrace and NOT a reflection of the views of decent Londoners - the paper seems hell bent on inciting racism and a class war. It seems they are doing a very good job judging by the stupidity spouted by some here. When are Londoners going to be given the option of another London based newspaper? we certainly need one as this one seems to be a platform for the EDL................

- KH, London UK, 28/09/2011 16:15
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Ah, Hamilton Straker - I see you've found another platform on the forum to spew your odious racism then.....

- Mark, St Albans, 28/09/2011 15:16

And how is that racist – i pay my tax like him and i do not want to pay for other families from abroad.
Common sense not racist.

- david west, west london, 28/09/2011 16:09
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@ Bazza - your comment is utterly untrue. The reason Council Homes and Housing Association homes are lumped together and now called 'Social Housing' is because for many years they have been adjoined through the 'bidding' allocation system regulated by Local Authorities which is obliged to administer the availability of homes to those with most priority. In the past, one could apply directly to a Housing Association which could apply it's own discretionary criteria to applicants (based on ethnicity, religion, etc) - this no longer happens, hence all HA properties and Council homes are now given the one name - 'Social Housing'.

- crystally_disaffected, Camden iNNIT, 28/09/2011 16:05
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How will this save the councils money?

If the jobless cannot get social housing, then they have to get private housing. Private housing rents are higher than "council rents" but the council still pays out housing benefits............therefore, the coucil will be paying out more but to private landlords and not themselves.
As to whether a person can work but won't work is a differnt matter and should be sorted out by a differnt department.

- Cynical Ol Git., The UK, 28/09/2011 16:01
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@ Hades93 - this scheme will not get rid of 'the great unwashed' as you put it, in fact they will be the ONLY people legally prioritised to the top of waiting lists. Not being able to speak English is the very highest criteria set as according to legislation, this means a person is far too vulnerable to find their own rented accommodation. The outcome of this action will be the very opposite of what you hope for and at the present moment most council waiting lists are only comprised of the severest sectors of vulnerability and people use their Human Rights advocates and Housing Solicitors to assert their right to be housed. If you speak English, have a job, are not disabled, you would not even be allowed on the housing register right at the present moment - how do you think the country got into this state in the first place. There is no social housing, it is full up, and the only people gaining it are the ones you don't want. This will also cause mass homelessness and street sleeping amongst British young men and women who have been made unemployed and can't afford London private rents. Landlords are well aware of the LHA rates and abuse the system. The only people likely to 'go home' are jobseeking Europeans who aren't already housed in Social Housing as they stand no chance.

- crystally_disaffected, Camden iNNIT, 28/09/2011 16:00
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This is an outrageous scheme even for the rabid Daily Mail readers -IF- you consider the following factors: Unemployed British residents may claim Housing Benefit for Private Rented Accommodation in any area to which they have connection. This uses the Local Housing Allowance HB rate, which is far higher than Council housing rents (for London areas is phenomenally high). Social Housing rents are affordable although for the most part councils provide less desirable accommodation. Therefore it will cost *far more* to tax payers by housing unemployed people in Private Rented accommodation using the LHA. This will render the unemployed caught in a 'Benefits Trap' where if they accept work, it will not cover their rent and bills. Even worse, people such as Refugees, immigrants, released convicts, pregnant single girls are legally considered to be of highest priority vulnerability for Social Housing -BUT- are also not able to or allowed to work. They will then be the only people housed, creating a rich / poor divide and council estates ghettoised with unemployed immigrants, single mums, and people with little to no hope of gaining employment. People should not 'bash' the unemployed! Millions of people have recently been made redundant and are genuine hardworking people desperately seeking work. It could be YOU and your family next who default on your mortgage through unexpected redundancy or who find yourself in need of social housing for a variety of desperate reasons

- crystally_disaffected, Camden iNNIT, 28/09/2011 15:49
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Dont get excited its only grant sounding off ahead of the tory party conference, it'll never happen as wont ids's reforms, they've not factored in the uman rights aspect yet.

- stuart, chesterfield,derbyshire, 28/09/2011 15:48
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once again i will attempt to make a comment that is not right wing or racist or downright untrue regarding this story. Hamilton - the days of teenage girls getting council housing due to pregnancy are LONG GONE. If you got off your high horse and actually engaged with people who you normally look down your nose at you would know this. Bj well lets hope you don't fall on hard times, no lets hope YOU DO fall on hard times because i will personally travel up to birmingham and say 'well you don't get something for nothing' when you are struggling to feed you family on the pittance they call job seekers allowance and when you are evicted from your house for non payment of rent/mortgage(what an idiotic statement,) and to you Jon -wow you must be in possession of government statistics to know that 'the majority of people who are unemployed in Westminster do not want to work' oh sorry no you are just a right wing bigot, who probably does not even live in Westminster or knows anyone who does. And Kerry, such insight: you must work for the DWP or is it you are just making a sweeping statement? I could go on but i know the ES will probably not print this comment as it is not in keeping with the right wing racist stuff that is being spouted by people who probably never talk to any other Londoners but ones who are white English. you are all as pathetic as this right wing tat of a newspaper....not all social housing tenants are foreign jobseekers - but you lot don't want believe that

- KH, London UK, 28/09/2011 15:39
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Ah, Hamilton Straker - I see you've found another platform on the forum to spew your odious racism then.....

- Mark, St Albans, 28/09/2011 15:16
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@jesus - why exactly should you not start out in a minimum wage job? There is nothing to stop you moving on later to a better paying job, and it gives you invaluable experience and references. This whole rather sit rotting on the dole than work attitude baffles me.

- redsquare, london, 28/09/2011 15:06
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Go for it Dave, let's sort the wheat from the chaff, it's about time hard working people were rewarded first !!

- Mark, South east london, 28/09/2011 14:56
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What about the 'asylum' and 'refugee' cases who can be housed, paid benefits and live the rest of their lives here without doing a stroke of work. I know some. who doesn't? Look around.
It beats winning the Lottery!

- Londoner, Oxford, 28/09/2011 14:51
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And from next year we shall have them shot one by one.Heil Cameron

- dave, london, 28/09/2011 14:34
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Sounds ok,until you apply for a job without a permanent address,or find somewhere to live without a job.

- Joe Bryant, London, 28/09/2011 14:33
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This is one reason why council housing has been renamed social housing,these homes used to be for ordinary people who mainly worked in low to medium paid jobs which is where I myself grew up.Now I'm afraid only giving places like this to people who don't work has created an underclass of people who live on these estates so ordinary family people no longer want to live there,although I agree with this idea I'm very sceptical of the intentions of this government.

- bazza, london, 28/09/2011 14:32
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Lets hope this also includes those with many children that have just come in to the country and expect a hand out . This government ie Cameron Clegg and the rest of the rabble have not the slightest idea of how this influx of absolute wasters have taken the benefit system to the cleaners.

- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London, 28/09/2011 14:31
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It's a start. Stop teenage girls from getting a council house just because they get pregnant. Limit child benefit to two children only and pay them with redeemable vouchers for use at supermarkets-so you know the money is going to it's intended use. No immigrants should qualify for housing or medical cover until they have contributed 5 years of income & NI taxes. Force the long term unemployed to do the work currently being done by the Eastern Europeans or stop their benefits and fine the employer or give the employer a tax credit for taking on the long term unemployed. Paying a credit is better than paying out unemployment benefit.

- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 28/09/2011 14:30
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I was let go of my job because they found someone they like better.

And now I have to find another job,thankfully I do have some job references from the company. I have been on a number of intervews and the question I get what do I do with my free time they couldn't care if I could do the job or not, I have an interview on Tuesday, I am a bookkeepr and if I don't get this job I will have to get job seekers, I hope I don't have to apply for job seekers or housing benefits, my husband has MS and we live in a housing assocation.

We know that there are people who don't want to work, but I really don't want to step over homeless people in the street. Britian has recently became a humane place to live and it looks like the government and people want to go back to the days before there were safety nets. This is not going to work. Let the governement start creating jobs and stop punishing the people that are looking for jobs.

Please read the Lotus Sutra interpreted by Nichiren Daishonin, best English translation by Burton Waston, you can find it on the internet.

- jod, London, 28/09/2011 14:19
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Great idea ,will never work ,because the influx of migrants will put the entire system out of focus . This Government has such wonderful ideas that it will never introduce . because it will upset the leader pf the pack ----- Brussels. And Alas , our Leader Cameron just doesn't have the back bone to say to the EU stick up your A-----e

- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London, 28/09/2011 14:18
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"If that wasn't true the city wouldn't be full of Polish and other hard wroking foreign staff. (Check ANY bar / retaurant)."

You clearly have no brains. Why should people work for minimum wage so the Gordon Ramseys of this world can open another restaurant?

- Jesus, London, 28/09/2011 14:17
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To those who say its unfair, consider this, my borough refuses to allow anybody who has a job to join the housing waiting list!

- redsquare, london, 28/09/2011 14:04
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There is a vast & very obvious difference between 'career' benefit spongers & someone fallen on hard luck Mark - clearly demonstrated by the CV for starters. It's very easy to tell the difference between someone who can't get a job & someone who is not interested in one, all you have to do is read the feedback provided from potential employers on the candidate. It's only difficult if you make it so. People who continuously make excuses rather than seek solutions are a big part of the problem.

- Kerry, London, 28/09/2011 13:59
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Let's be honest the vast majority of people not working in Westminster could get a job but can't be bothered. If that wasn't true the city wouldn't be full of Polish and other hard wroking foreign staff. (Check ANY bar / retaurant). So let the idle workshy go and sit around in Wales or somewhere cheaper.

- Jon, London, 28/09/2011 13:22

Well said Jon! I'm British and I want to talk specifically about the British. There are some who genuinely can't get a job for one reason or another but there are loads of lazy ones who play the '' I can't get a job because of mass immigration/multiculturalism doesn't work card ......'' Yeah, that's right the old immigration/multiculturalism card can be used just like the 'race' card. It works both ways!

- Bob, Belzie Park, 28/09/2011 13:58
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This is entirely right. If you look back to the 1970s when new concrete estates were being completed and filled (Thamesmead) one needed work references in order to move there and to be allocated a new flat. (The Great Estate - Michael Collins). Now that social housing is in even shorter supply the rules ought to be stricter not more lax than before. The allocations policy following the Housing Act 1977 would appear to be partly responsible for the creation of sink estates (along with RTB).
However, this will only work if new council housing is built simultaneously to balance the load so that the allocations policy can be slowly returned to that which existed prior to 1977, and that doesn't look like happening anytime soon.

- Single Aspect, UK, 28/09/2011 13:56
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Vee haf vays off making you werk,

- Anglo, The Heart of England, 28/09/2011 13:48
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Well it's a start. There's no place for the jobless in city centres, they're just adding to the misery. Next cut child benefit to only the first two children, it would save us billions and directly penalise the third world giant family and the feckless unmarried baby machines. Sling all foreigners in our jails back to where they came from, outsource our prisons to India and flood the channel tunnel. Bingo, crisis solved.

- Sir Bleatsalot, Joyous Gard, 28/09/2011 13:48
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A great headline BUT will not have any impact on the benefit breeders , newly arrived non english speakers , criminals who we cannot deport due to Liberals beloved human rights etc as Government rules say this lot have priority .

Joke headlines like this will not fool us that Condem are going to change anything .

Why under the first year of Condem have we seen the birth rate soar to 800,000 pa ?

Answer the more kids you have the bigger the house ,

Sad but true and will only get worse under Condem .

- remus, london, 28/09/2011 13:38
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What about their human rights? You can't push people from pillar to post simply because they refuse to work, that's appalling.

- Liberal And Cowed, Camden.

No. Not appalling, just common sense. Workshy slugabeds should get nothing because they contribute nothing.

- Daddy, Kensington, 28/09/2011 13:37
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Excellent idea , we all go through hard times but you really can,t expect everything for nothing .
On a personal level this time last year I was wheelchair bound following a spinal accident and off work sick for eight months but all that time I was determined to get back to my job and get back to my life .
Today I'm back full time at work and work overtime on days off and back at the gym etc etc I was acutely aware if I didn't, who would pay my mortgage the man in the moon

- Bj, Birmingham, 28/09/2011 13:26
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Let's be honest the vast majority of people not working in Westminster could get a job but can't be bothered. If that wasn't true the city wouldn't be full of Polish and other hard wroking foreign staff. (Check ANY bar / retaurant). So let the idle workshy go and sit around in Wales or somewhere cheaper.

- Jon, London, 28/09/2011 13:22
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What about their human rights? You can't push people from pillar to post simply because they refuse to work, that's appalling.

- Liberal And Cowed, Camden, 28/09/2011 13:17
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Brilliant idea - those on lower pay should be rewarded at the expense of spongers too idle to lift a finger. I just wonder how they will tell those actively seeking work from those just pretending to.

- Wispy Wonder, London, 28/09/2011 13:11
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I find this rather uncomfortable and disturbing. We have come to a state that if you fall in to a run of bad luck and you end up homeless, that you are treated in this manner which could result in living off the streets and yet be have someone from another country walk off a plan and end up with a manner of handouts and if your in London a nice pad to boot!

- Mark, Central London, 28/09/2011 13:02
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That's fair enough. You can't get something for nothing. People should have to put something back into the community if they are not financially contributing. It might hopefully go some way to prevent the great unwashed from overseas immigrating for freebies and a cushy life.

- Hades93, London, 28/09/2011 12:54
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