Right to Buy has had its day

A prime example of this is Right to Buy (RTB). There are two parts to this policy. The first is the Preserved RTB, which applies to tenants of stock transfer associations. Some of my previous blogs have highlighted how this policy is both unfair and makes the housing crisis even worse.

At Halton we need to sell five homes for every one replacement that can be built. Since Halton Housing was formed in December 2005, we have sold 357 homes. Of this number, 93% (332) are houses with two or more bedrooms.

The discount has ranged between £13,500 and £77,900.

So, who is buying the homes? You might reasonably assume it’s the current occupier, but this is increasingly not the case.

A recent analysis of sales at Halton over the past four years has also shown that 19% of homes sold were made to occupants who were in receipt of housing benefit at the time of completion.

Slightly more than one in three of these sales are completed using cash. This is usually by another family member.

What has not been considered is what happens to the occupants a few years down the line.

“The main beneficiary isn’t actually the person who is living at the property paying rent.”

When the property is sold to a family member, they no longer have any security of tenure or ownership. The main beneficiary isn’t actually the person who is living at the property paying rent.

This is surely an abuse of the basis upon which affordable housing has been built – using public money in the form of grant to enable the rents to be charged at around 70% of market levels.

It raises questions about who social housing is to benefit, and how it is to be funded to remain ‘affordable’. And where does RTB sit with the wider value for money and ‘sweating assets’ debate?

This isn’t just an issue localised to Halton. Research by Inside Housing last year highlighted how more than 40% of former RTB properties are now being let privately.

READ OUR RIGHT TO BUY INVESTIGATION

This is following a sharp upward trend, with a 7% increase in just two years.

The second part is the RTB extension to other housing associations tenants.

Now you could take comfort that this is probably never going to see the light of day; it was described late last year by Inside Housing as a zombie policy.

It has, at the very least, been kicked into the long grass following the announcement by the communities secretary that there will be no sales of councils’ high-value assets to fund the programme in 2018/19. This change in direction has also highlighted the power of Twitter as a lobbying tool.

But the position is still unclear. The confirmation of a pilot scheme in the West Midlands, which is being funded by Treasury, may see a halfway-house solution being considered. This at least would make more sense than expecting hard-pressed councils to sell their highest-value assets.

There are already a multitude of publicly funded schemes available to enable people to access homeownership products – 15 at the last count on the Department for Communities and Local Government website.

“RTB sprays the benefits around in the hope that at least some of them will hit the intended target.”

Many work really well and ensure they benefit the actual people for who they are intended.

In comparison RTB operates using a scattergun approach, spraying the benefits around in the hope that at least some of them will hit the intended target.

The world is a very different place from when RTB was introduced nearly 40 years ago. It is also markedly different from when the RTB extension was announced in 2015.

There is an overwhelming body of evidence to highlight how RTB is not the best use of public funds to enable people to access homeownership. It benefits a very small number of people, while stripping the supply of some of the most popular and much-needed affordable homes at the time of a housing crisis.

“Let’s follow the lead of both Scotland and Wales in ditching the RTB.”

There is also a significant risk of fraud, coupled with the benefits not being received by those for whom they were originally intended. Surely this doesn’t make sense, regardless of which political lens you are looking at this through?

So, in keeping with my New Year’s resolution, let’s focus our efforts and resources on where they add value and follow the lead of Scotland and Wales in ditching the RTB.

This is not about taking something away. But it is about ensuring we have a supply of high-quality affordable homes for future generations.

Nick Atkin, chief executive, Halton Housing Trust