The UK press this week was full of the proposals of Labour’s new Housing Minister that tenants should expect to work in exchange for a tenancy for life.

Ms Flint (Labour’s own Iron Lady) presented her arguments a bit clumsily as she was trying to appeal to the increasingly strong right wing element which is getting more vocal, but she was expressing the worries that many of us who try to manage housing have on sink estates and too many people on low income or living off State benefits living together. Worrying too that children brought up in an environment where Mum and Dad are not gainfully employed (mums always work) tend to repeat the non-gainfully employed pattern of their parents.

It also brought home the situation in Malta. When we try to build a housing project for rent anywhere there is a flood of protests and the lobbying starts. People (and I’m not saying this isn’t understandable) don’t want social housing built near their residences. It’s only if we reassure them and say it’s going to be for shared ownership that there is less resistance.

Why such fear of housing for rent? It is perhaps because of people’s fear of living next to a group of people who are not only low income, but who often do not intend to work with all the anti social behaviour that brings or can bring. People who spend the whole day at home tend to indulge in anti social behaviour, be it playing music too loud, having noisy pets for company, and fighting with their neighbours. Prospective neighbours feel this will lower the value of their home, and the truth is that of course it can. With so much or most of our wealth concentrated in homes, this kind of development worries homeowners. Yet we have to build housing for rent. Though where has become the problem.

I was reminded of this last year when I visited some of the Housing Authority’s blocks for rent near blocks for sale .The atmosphere was totally different, and in some instances slightly intimidating too .Of course it just takes two or three tenants in a block for rent to ruin the lives and reputation of everyone near by. Up to a short time ago there was no housing management of these estates and hopefully anti social behaviour will start to be tackled (by cooperating with local police and community leaders) when these units are transferred to the new Housing Authority

This problem hasn’t surfaced too often as most of the Housing Authority’s building programme has to date been for sale. It has to be, as we do not receive funding to build outside subsidised land so we are constrained to build for shared ownership. However, there is now a backlog of people who cannot afford ownership and indeed should not be encouraged to own. Their incomes are low, their jobs are seasonal. They need safe and secure housing for life but they cannot take on a loan.

Countries all over Europe are facing an affordability crisis. Rents and loans are beyond the reach of those on the minimum wage, so increasingly these minimum wage jobs are being taken on by immigrants or EU nationals from poorer countries. And of course these people are living in overcrowded conditions, whole families in one room, a situation that Malta was in not so long ago

How then can we build housing for people whose income is not high or who live on State benefit? More importantly, how can we genuinely encourage people to work when you really are, in Malta too, much, much better off not working, having lots of kiddies and not marrying, than you are taking on a minimum wage job? Do we punish the genuinely poor or do we try to educate? Can we afford to raise income levels or should we lower benefit levels?

And since such a high proportion of people live off benefit, both in Malta and the UK, is it realistic to expect politicians to tackle this sensibly and impartially? Certainly the allocation of housing in the future should be a joint effort between the housing and employment and training agencies that would be innovative and apolitical.

Those who need housing should also be helped to find work, both through financial and other incentives. We, too easily I fear, berate the non working poor but the truth is that it does not pay you to work in Malta today unless your income is much higher than the declared minimum wage. Changing this will take a generation.

It will take determination and cross party political support. It will also require a joint effort between the housing and employment agencies where thankfully good relations already exist. Something for future manifestos maybe... and hopefully?

[email protected]