Kelly makes it easier to buy council houses
It will become easier than ever to buy your council house under new plans unveiled by communities secretary Ruth Kelly today.
She announced a new “right to own” scheme, encouraging tenants to buy stakes in their council property starting at ten per cent. Tenants will then be able to increase the proportion of their home that they own throughout their lives.
Under current rules, social tenants have to buy at least 25 per cent of their homes.
“As a government we are building more social houses and have a good record of improving existing stock,” she said in a speech to the Fabian Society.
“But we need to accelerate the pace of improvement and give more tenants a stake in their home and their community.
“We are looking at a number of ideas to increase home ownership to create a sense of belonging and pride in communities.”
Ms Kelly also announced £400 million in extra funding to improve the quality of social housing for the elderly, disabled and vulnerable.
However, the policy has drawn criticism from opposition parties and charities.
“The real crisis in social housing is the half a million extra households on council waiting lists since Labour came to power,” said Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Dan Rogerson.
“None of the policies announced today will deal with that. In fact they’ll make the problem worse unless more social homes are built.”
Adam Sampson, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, added: “Helping poorer people share in the nation’s wealth is welcome – but this measure will only help around five per cent of current social tenants.
“Unless the money raised by this scheme is ploughed back into building desperately-needed new social homes, it will only serve to exacerbate the existing housing crisis.
“Significant investment in increasing the supply of new social housing must be the government’s first priority.”
