The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) welcomes the government's interest in breaking inter-generational worklessness and dependency, but believes this should be part of a rounded approach to wider reforms of affordable housing.

Sarah Webb, Chief Executive of CIH said: "CIH has long argued that there are problems around mobility and social housing that need to be tackled. Key evidence and research for government by John Hills and Martin Cave makes it clear that action needs to be taken. But we are equally clear that this needs to be part of a well thought through programme of change around private and social rented housing.


"In the first instance, we cannot tackle mobility if we don’t have enough homes. There isn't enough social housing in almost every community around the country and this makes movement between homes near impossible. With the housing crisis growing things are only going to get worse and every day the number of new lets and re-lets is falling. The root cause of a lack of mobility is a massive shortage of housing for people to move to, not an unwillingness by tenants to find work.

"The proposals to hold spaces on waiting lists is well intentioned, but there is a risk that this will come at the expense of families already waiting for housing in those communities. Should one family looking for a home close to a job have precedence over another family in the same position? We also need to be careful that struggling communities aren’t abandoned and left to the old and the young as the skilled and mobile move away."

(CD/GK)