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There has been a great deal made of evicting rioters from their council houses and I can see the point. But - unless a wholesale reworking of the law is pushed through sharpish - the process of eviction from social housing is long-winded and subject to inevitable vagaries of that law's interpretation by lawyers, magistrates and judges.
So I was pleased hear - from a woman called Lesley Pullman - on the Radio this morning a really sensible suggestion. Rather than trying to evict rioters (or indeed other anti-social tenants), change the nature of the tenancy. Mrs Pullman pointed out that the lifetime tenancy in social housing was prized by these people as it provides protection from eviction - indeed some cases take up to three years. By allowing councils and other social landlords to convert the tenancies of anti-social residents to a normal assured shorthold, you provide a strong tool as well as making any subsequent eviction far easier.
Sadly the Labour MP on the programme (New Puritan smokophobe, Kevin Barron) wasn't listening - but nothing new there!
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1 comment:
It's a step in the right direction.
The problem with evicting rioters from council houses is that they become homeless and therefore the council have to re-home them somewhere. So all that's happening is you are moving a person or family from one property into another. How is that punishment? Is it because the new property is some sort of dodgy bedsit as opposed to a nice council home. Do these kind of people care or will they just use it as an reason to rail against the state.
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