Right to Buy: Dangerous policy

Extending the Right to Buy to housing associations tenants would be damaging for London. There are many reasons why this policy should not be implemented, and here are just two.

Firstly, it will worsen the already acute housing crisis in the capital. Demand is outstripping supply and there are not enough homes being built. Housing associations account for around 40% of new housing supply in London and together we have a pipeline of more than 93,000 new homes.

We are financially strong and are able to borrow and attract investment to build new homes because we have valuable property assets. Selling these assets would remove our capacity to replace them.

Giving housing associations the market value of the sale from selling off high value council owned properties as is proposed would not help us replace low-cost homes on a like-for-like basis because the land is either not there or would come at an inflated price. So much needed housing supply would inevitably contract.

Secondly, low-cost homes in London are vital for our city’s social and economic success - they provide stable and affordable homes for hundreds of thousands of Londoners on lower incomes.

These are people we rely on to keep our city running: shop workers, cleaners, transport workers, health careassistants. The Right to Buy would transfer social and charitable assets to a few lucky individuals, hollowing London out and making it unaffordable for the majority of hard-working people.

Peabody and our G15 colleagues are supporters of home ownership and shared ownership. We build homes for sale on the open market to help fund more low-cost homes for rent. We reinvest every penny we make from sales because we are committed to our communities and have a deep charitable and social purpose. Forcing us to sell our social assets will severely limit our ability to do this.

The policy is flawed, dangerous and wrong.

Stephen Howlett, chief executive, Peabody