Private member’s bill tabled to introduce new priorities for social housing

Labour MP Frank Field has tabled a private member’s bill which would introduce new measures to determine who should get social housing. His suggestion is that new tests should be applied, including how long someone had lived in an area, whether they had contributed to the community and whether they had paid their rents and taxes. Mr Field also feels that it would be fair to take into the account how applicants’ children had behaved in the past, and any complaints from neighbours, to demonstrate whether families had an “exemplary tenancy” record.