For too long social housing allocation policy has been determined by a tick box methodology, rather than one that is focused on rewarding achievement and encouraging housing mobility. But with a bit of imaginative thinking it's possible to see council housing not as an end in itself but as a launch pad for helping residents to improve their lives.
For this to work we need a new focus on delivering economic and housing opportunities. It's an approach that most people will see as sound common sense, but we will have to be prepared to tackle the small minority of people who are able to work but still refuse to take up opportunities.
It cannot be right that on housing estates in Wandsworth around 30% of working age people are claiming full housing benefit, while unemployment levels stand at around 3%. This picture is not unrepresentative of the rest of the country: in September of this year there were 1,522 local vacancies and 22,000 further vacancies available in inner London. Times may be hard, but the opportunities are there.
That is why, as part of a pilot, we are using fixed term tenancies to offer a package of support to people. It is essentially a contract; we will do our bit if you are prepared to do yours.
Our focus is very much on supporting and encouraging people to set their sights high. It's a message we've been pressing home to government for some months now and has given rise to lots of new ideas, including ways of giving young people access to the kind of home ownership opportunities their parents took for granted.
We've also been looking at ways of harnessing the talent that we know our younger residents can offer. One idea is to establish a form of "estate graduate" scheme where our housing department will take on and train young people in the borough. I hope a future director of housing will be among them.
At Vauxhall Nine Elms, one of the biggest regeneration projects in Europe, we are making sure that our young people can benefit from the thousands of new jobs that are being created. Under a new scheme every major planning application will include an employment and skills plan, setting out a commitment to providing apprenticeships and local jobs both during and after construction.
We all know times are hard, but this is strengthening our resolve to come up with ways to help. Of course if we are to motivate people to succeed in life there needs to be some accountability for people who can work, but for whatever reason, refuse to take up job or training opportunities. That is why we are building in conditions for some of our new fixed-term tenancy agreements which stipulate that renewal of the agreement is dependent on people seriously looking for work or doing other things to develop their skills.
I think it is right that we start to see social housing as a dynamic resource. Instead of perpetuating the assumption of a tenancy for life, we need to reposition council housing as a flexible asset which people can move in and out of with relative ease, and which can be reinvested and recycled many times over.
For earlier generations, social housing was seen as a prized commodity which offered something to aspire to. The concept of the workless estate was unthinkable. But this is not about looking backm, it's about making sure we have the kind of social housing that is right for our times. Today more than ever we need to re-establish the link between getting a place to live and getting on in life.
Ravi Govindia is leader of Wandsworth council
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the housing network for more comment and analysis and the latest job vacancies direct to your inbox
