[KF] Housing Minister Grant Shapps urged councils and housing associations to help unlock their tenants' entrepreneurial talents and allow them to set up businesses from their homes.
Research has suggested that as many as 96% of housing associations require tenants to get written permission to be able to work from home - with many tenants believing that permission would be denied.
While 11% of homeowners work mainly from home, the figure can be as low as 5% of council tenants.
Of the 200,000 small businesses operating from home only 22,000 of these are in council or housing association properties. This means that only 11% of small businesses in the 1,000 most socially deprived areas operate from home - compared to 36% in the rest of the country.
Mr Shapps today said that he wants social tenants to have the same opportunities as everyone else to set up their own businesses - so he urged landlords to use their common sense and, wherever possible, give the green light for residents to work from home.
Rather than waiting for tenants to come forward and ask permission, the Minister also called on councils and housing associations to make the first move and make clear to their tenants that they are pro-business - meaning there should be a presumption in favour of being able to run a business from a social home.
Barriers to Working From Home Should be Lifted by Social Landlords