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In her speech to the Fabian Society in London, her first major speech since being appointed Housing Minister ten days ago, Ms Flint said that she wanted to tackle the culture of joblessness on "sink" estates where almost no-one had work.

"I am concerned about what has been called a collapse in the number of people in council housing in work over the past 25 years," she said.

"Council housing was originally somewhere which brought together people from different social backgrounds and professions but this has declined. We need to think radically and start a national debate about whether we can reverse this trend, and have strong, diverse estates with a mix of people.

"Council and social housing must continue to support the most vulnerable in society, but it should also be a springboard to opportunity, not just a safety net."

Ms Flint floated a number of ideas for boosting employment, such as giving a higher priority on housing waiting lists to existing tenants who needed to move to take up a job elsewhere, incentives for tenants to buy a stake in their home, and having job advisers based in council estates.

"We all agree that social housing is about more than bricks and mortar - more than handing over the keys and leaving tenants to get on with it for the next thirty years. And it isn’t so many years ago that a council house was something to prize," she said..

"I believe that we can recapture that sense of pride, creating a culture within social housing that promotes opportunity and social mobility, inspiring people to take control of their own lives.

"I want to try to establish a national consensus that building more homes - including more social and affordable housing - is absolutely the right thing to do. That will remain my first priority, and I intend to make sure that the momentum continues to build over the coming months."

The link between increasing worklessness and social housing was highlighted in the Hills report, which looked at the future role of social housing. Ms Flint said she would co-operate with the Work and Pensions Secretary and the Employment Minister on addressing the issues it raised.

But her ideas today found little favour. Sarah Webb, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), said: "We shouldn’t under-estimate the importance of a stable home in providing a springboard for people into education, training or work.

"Social housing is a scarce resource - allocated to those in acute housing need. We would, therefore, have concerns about a policy that, however unintended, had the effect of destabilising already vulnerable families by taking their homes away from them."

Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, described Ms Flint's comments as insulting and stigmatising to people facing major barriers to employment.

"The Government must stop trying to manage the lives of the most disadvantaged people at the sharp end of a stick and address their genuine needs," she said.

"Investment in skills development, disability support, and the rollout of comprehensive childcare in disadvantaged communities, will meet the Government’s employment targets and move towards their important promise to end child poverty."

Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said: "The right to a home is a fundamental right that should not be linked to employment status.

"A family already struggling on a low income should not face added insecurity and stress over their home because of unemployment.

"The Government would do better to give proper resources to the tried and tested methods of getting people into work rather than seeking unproven and harmful shortcuts."

Even Labour backbenchers disapproved. John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) said: "The Government should attack poverty and not the poor.

"Sanctions and threats already exist within the benefits system, so to threaten to make people homeless is more brutal than anything we’ve seen since the end of the Poor Law. The new generation of ministers and advisers appear to be living up to the mantle of Thatcher’s children. What next? Will it be the novel idea of the workhouse?"

Grants Shapps, the Shadow Housing Minister, derided the ideas as "meaningless Labour spin". He said: "This is a classic example of the Government trying to grab the headlines with spin that they cannot legally enforce. Ministers and local councils have a statutory duty to house homeless families with children and so they can’t boot them out of their houses without then providing alternative accommodation."

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