Tories pledge to respect social housing tenures

In its manifesto, published today, the party attempts to head off suggestions it would abandon security of tenure for social housing tenants.

The Labour Party has suggested this would likely happen under a Conservative government and has campaigned heavily on the issue so far.

The Conservative’s manifesto does not make it clear what it means by ‘respecting tenancies and rents’ but Grant Shapps, the Conservative’s housing spokesman, indicated to Inside Housing last week that the party would not scrap secure tenancies for either existing or future tenants.

The party’s central housing pledges in its manifesto relate to homeownership and giving social tenants more control over where they live.

It states a Conservative government would ‘introduce a “foot on the ladder” programme to offer an equity stake to good social tenants, which can be cashed in when they move out of social rented accommodation’.

The party confirms it would also pilot a new ‘right to move’ scheme and introduce a nationwide social home swap programme, so social tenants can transfer their tenancy to another home or part of the country.

It also promises to change the way homelessness is measured by ‘introducing more accurate street counts and ensuring a minister in each relevant department has homelessness in their brief’.

Like the Labour Party , it has made homeownership a central part of its housing policy.

It says it wants to create ‘a property owning democracy where everyone has the chance to own their own home’. The party says it will also ‘ensure that no-one is forced to sell their home to pay unsecured debts of less than £25,000’.

It confirms plans it had already announced for communities to benefit from allowing sustainable development, stating ‘we will match pound-for-pound the council tax receipts that local authorities receive from new homes to encourage sensitive local development’.

‘We will create new local housing trusts to allow communities to grant planning permission for new housing within villages and towns’, it adds.

A new Big Society Bank, funded from unclaimed bank assets, will provide finance for neighbourhood groups, charities and social enterprises. It confirms it will abolish regional spatial strategies and building targets and protect the green belt.

The Government Office for London will also be abolished as power is devolved to councils and the London mayor. It says it wants ‘every adult in the country to be a member of an active neighbourhood group’.

The Conservatives will give councils the power to establish new district heating networks which use biogas and other low carbon fuels. And it says communities that ‘host renewable energy projects like wind farms’ will keep ‘additional business rates they generate for six years’.

The manifesto confirms the party will crack down on quangos and that ‘any quangos that do not perform a technical function or a function that requires political impartiality, or act independently to establish facts, will be abolished’.

The party has already indicated that the social housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority, will be abolished if it comes to power.

The manifesto adds that it will ‘examine the case for giving select committees the power to prevent increases in quango budgets’.

Readers' comments (12)

• alex kendall | 13/04/2010 1:47 pm

  The conservative manifesto launch reminds me so much of Battersea power station awful external frontage while on the inside it’s occupied by dead political rats. David you talk about decentralisation but this is panacea for cost cutting you talk about power in the community but where are the resources as a nation we are bust??? If we vote on a referendum will you provide the resources? The manifesto suggests that local planning referendums will occur, again `third party rights’ are at play will housing associations be blackmailed over planning permission? What about the 25 billion of housing debt? Nothing said. No mention of the two million on the waiting list. Somebody once said `a society is judge by how it treats its people’. Is there such a thing as society David.....

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• the purple avenger | 13/04/2010 2:32 pm

  Does it matter - manifestos are never implemented by any party so why should we believe any of this?

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• Jimmy Devlin | 13/04/2010 4:12 pm

  Labour's delivery of Community Empowerment has been mostly illusory , top down tightly controlled frameworks . Commissioning and Tendering is leading to smaller groups vanishing at an ever increasing rate. This needs to be reversed.
  
  This Conservative manifesto ,if implemented as read, would make devolving of power to neighbourhood groups real at last.
  
  Small independent neighbourhood groups are the best bet for local residents to be given a real voice in decision making. Not the paid Voluntary sector as previously.
  
  Tenants and Residents Associations ..constituted, fully inclusive, non party political and well governed fit the bill perfectly.
  They inevitably often manage to make minimum funding go a long way too.
  
  AND importantly they do not need overpaid consultants involved.

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• Gus Cairns | 13/04/2010 5:13 pm

  Just as i said in the houseproud panel section all Parties are pushing the home ownership agenda .I say what about the people like the disabled the pensioner and young families in deprived areas who have no hope of getting a mortgage.
  Are these to be the forgotten generation and if the Tories get in how will they replace the Tenant services Authority who are a champion of Tenants and would make sure Housing Associations Councils and other registered providors had the interests of residents as there top priority .I have heard the newly formed National Tenants Voice could go as well in the bonfire of the Quangos. We will be back to the 1980's and 90's when lots of social housing was sold at greatly knockdown prices to cater to Thatchers home owning society and where there are now 2,000,000 on waiting lists on sestates like the one i live on surrounded in green belt there is nowhere to build the affordable houses. I am 63 years old living in a 1 bedroom housing association flat and very involved in residents involvement with my Housing association and for the last month we have been having meetings about the new TSA standards have we been wasting our time if the tories get in i wish i knew can someone tell me please Gus Cairns Residents Board Chester and District Housing Trust

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• Gus Cairns | 13/04/2010 5:13 pm

  Just as i said in the houseproud panel section all Parties are pushing the home ownership agenda .I say what about the people like the disabled the pensioner and young families in deprived areas who have no hope of getting a mortgage.
  Are these to be the forgotten generation and if the Tories get in how will they replace the Tenant services Authority who are a champion of Tenants and would make sure Housing Associations Councils and other registered providors had the interests of residents as there top priority .I have heard the newly formed National Tenants Voice could go as well in the bonfire of the Quangos. We will be back to the 1980's and 90's when lots of social housing was sold at greatly knockdown prices to cater to Thatchers home owning society and where there are now 2,000,000 on waiting lists on sestates like the one i live on surrounded in green belt there is nowhere to build the affordable houses. I am 63 years old living in a 1 bedroom housing association flat and very involved in residents involvement with my Housing association and for the last month we have been having meetings about the new TSA standards have we been wasting our time if the tories get in i wish i knew can someone tell me please Gus Cairns Residents Board Chester and District Housing Trust

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• 

  Joe Halewood | 13/04/2010 8:12 pm

  The manifesto is the issue as the Tories had the chance to say they would not take away secure tenure and they have failed to do this with some Sophistry. All they had to say in plain English was we wont take it away and they didnt... interesting omission!

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• Dave Hollins | 14/04/2010 8:13 am

  Given the fuss about the Tories undermining security of tenure over the last couple of years, the Manifesto was the clear opportunity to put the record straight - and they failed to do so. They know the issue is about future tenants but they do not mention that. So the Manifesto is certainly not a guarantee on either security of tenure or rents and there is a lot of pressure inside the Tory Party to turn social housing into a temporary tenure.
  Their proposals on new build are a NIMBY charter and will be disastrous for people looking for a new home to rent or buy.
  Their manifesto has huge gaps in it with homelessness, HRA reform, private rented tenants rights, and other major issues hardly getting a word.
  Grant Shapps had a slot on Radio 5 last night and seemed rather surprised to be challenged on HIPs - home information packs. Unfortunately for him, the callers were rather more knowledgeable about house selling and buying than he was and he was just left sounding like a complete idiot.

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• Harry Lime | 14/04/2010 8:59 am

  Shouldn't the headline be "Tories begrudgingly accept they have to honour exisiting tenancies but will erode security for new tenants"? Not the catchiest, I grant you......

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• WATT | 14/04/2010 9:21 am

  We need further details of these housing proposals, rental or buy.
  The manifesto was delivered paces away from a Housing Association advertising “you can buy a 25% of a 300k flat providing you don’t earn over 60k (i.e. 3 x the ‘middle income’)”. Is there any chance to ever fully own a property like this, especially when the rental element doesn’t allow much potential for saving to further staircase?
  
  There are plenty who rarely qualify for social housing, rental or buy. The reality of ‘middle income’ hardly covers rent on a studio and food shop. The real definition of middle income (i.e. good or enabling) should be able to get you home ownership yet 5 x starting point of ‘middle income’ is a 100k which in turn couldn’t buy a property near London / workplace - certainly not family housing.
  
  No stamp duty up to 250k - the 10 x ‘middle incomers’ will be delighted.
  
  Think it says it all about housing costs at the moment and schemes to help.
  As well as the families, what about the young couples who don’t earn the fantastic ‘middle income’ - what chance they or a single income household?
  
  The potential of nationwide move/swap scheme (similar to HOMES?) is likely to have neglible effect as do current transfer requests/home swapping schemes - a quick browse will show the same properties on lists for years. How much has CBL helped? One of the difficulties is that all newly available properties go straight to noms. - the reality of the waiting list tenant is that a five / ten year wait is now considered the norm and acceptable re: transfer. No mobility at all. What does Shapps know that we don’t - has he found a way round this?
  
  Empowerment for communities - the very people that need turnaround are some of the most disaffected in society - again further details needed.

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• kass | 14/04/2010 12:06 pm

  If ever there was need to show examples of promises which are not going to fufliflled by politicians this is one of the best example. The tories and their acolytes have done nothing but undermine security of tenure -and now needing to grab votes to win the elections - come out with this wishy washy left turn.
  If the tories who, on this very website have been blasting against security of tenure have any honour or decency left they should be the first ones to vote against David Cameron for disappointing them.
  But they won't because they know this promise is just to grab tenants votes... But they won't, because last minute policy switches like this have always backfired.
  This much touted tory victory is just a damp squid after all... for better or for worse is another 5 years of labour.

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