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The Week in Housing: Right to Buy, wrong for housing associations
A weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals
The Week in Housing – a weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals #UKhousingGood afternoon.
Which was your favourite time the Conservative Party said it would extend the Right to Buy to housing associations?
Was it in 2005 when it first appeared in the Conservatives’ manifesto and was one of the key housing policies for Michael Howard’s unsuccessful campaign?
Or was it in 2015 when David Cameron, as part of his election bid, came up with the plan to extend the scheme and pay for it by forcing councils to sell off their most expensive stock? This time the party got as far as getting housing associations to vote to support it and a pilot was launched.
Or could it have been when fresh-faced Robert Jenrick stood in front of the Conservative Party conference pre-election and announced that the government would be looking to extend the Right to Buy to all housing associations, but with a twist? This time it could be done in instalments.
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Well, this week that list was added to. On Monday, The Telegraph was briefed that Number 10 was once again looking into extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants. While scant on detail, the report said that housing benefit could be used to help those attempting to use the mechanism to secure a mortgage.
Whether a political ploy to grab a few votes, or something that Boris Johnson’s government actually wants to implement, people in the housing sector did not hold back from sharing their views on the policy. The majority of the comments were not too kind.
Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, probably went the furthest when she described it as a “hare-brained” policy that was “half-baked” and, as the timeline we did on Tuesday morning shows, something that has been “tried before and failed”.
While you can see why tenants would be interested in some cases and why the government might see it as a vote winner, as Inside Housing’s analysis on the plan showed, it is just not that practical.
Put the potential £14bn it will cost over 10 years aside for a minute, there are legal complications and it will do little to help the acute shortage of social housing we are experiencing. As the Voluntary Right to Buy pilot showed, replacing the stock lost on a “one-for-one” basis is nigh on impossible.
Then once you get past that, there are questions whether tenants want to or can afford to buy their home, even with heavy discounts. With the cost of living crisis disproportionately hitting those in social housing, it is hard to see how buying up their home will be ahead of keeping warm and fed on their list of priorities.
Another well-read story this week was the one on the “organisation-wide” issues at large G15 landlord Notting Hill Genesis that saw a large number of residents receive incorrect service charge estimates. It comes as there is growing discontent with housing association service charge calculations and bills, with some leaseholders and tenants going on a service charge strike in protest.
Elsewhere, our editor Martin Hilditch told the story of Livv Housing Group and its journey from being non-compliant Knowsley Housing Trust to transforming into a G1-rated housing association with a new name. He sat down with chief executive Léann Hearne to talk about the organisation’s turnaround.
Jack Simpson, assistant editor (news and investigations)
Quote of the week
“It will distort the market and disadvantage our industry compared to overseas companies – many of which were involved in the construction or refurbishment of buildings which now require remediation”
David Thomas, chief executive of house builder Barratt, let housing secretary Michael Gove know what he thinks about the government’s new building safety plan, arguing that plan leaves no incentive for companies to be based in UK.
Stat of the week
A total of £40m from Nottingham City Council’s Housing Revenue Account was misspent between 2014 and 2021. This week, the local authority confirmed that it would be bringing its ALMO, Nottingham City Homes, in house after an investigation recommended this move.
Editor’s pick: five must-read stories
Right to Buy for housing associations: the main challenges behind extending the policy
Glasgow Council loses key homelessness case in Scotland’s highest court
Swan confirms it will not pass cladding costs on to leaseholders
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