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Northern Ireland to consult on future of Right to Buy
The Northern Irish government is consulting on the future of House Sales Schemes, Northern Ireland’s equivalent of the Right to Buy.
It will consider the future of the scheme, which allows housing association and Housing Executive tenants to buy their homes, in a consultation running from today to 24 September 2018.
The move is part of the government’s attempt to reverse the decision by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to reclassify housing associations as private organisations.
This classification causes their debt to appear on public balance sheets, and the English government has already passed reforms to deregulate the sector, which persuaded the ONS to reverse its decision.
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According to Northern Ireland Department for Communities, the House Sales scheme is one aspect of the government’s control over housing associations, which motivated the ONS to classify them as public.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “Without a reversal of this classification decision made by the Office for National Statistics in September 2016, the number of new social homes built each year in Northern Ireland will be reduced significantly unless there was a significant increase in levels of funding allocated from the executive’s budget for the construction of new homes.”
Nicola McCrudden, director of Northern Ireland at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “It would appear that the House Sales Scheme must end if we are to continue to enable our housing associations to access private finance to continue to build much needed homes. If this is the case, we are likely to see it ending for Housing Executive tenants also.”
There is currently no government in Northern Ireland after the coalition led by the Democratic Unionist Party collapsed following a failed renewable heating scheme.
With the parties unable to reach an agreement, Stormont has been deadlocked since January 2017. This means that there are no ministers in position able to make a decision on the outcome of the consultation.
The spokesperson added: “Any decision on whether and how to amend legislation arising from this consultation will be solely for ministers to consider and take decisions. The purpose of the consultation exercise is to seek views on the options available so that these can be incorporated into the advice that will be provided to ministers on the issues.”
In response to enquiries from Inside Housing, a spokesperson for the department said:
“The previous Northern Ireland Executive charged the Department with bringing forward proposals on how current housing legislation can be amended so that the ONS decision to reclassify Housing Associations can be reversed.
“An initial consultation was launched in December 2016, outlining a proposed approach to how housing legislation may be amended, which identified the House Sales Schemes as a key piece of legislation that needed to be considered.
“The consultation on the Future of the House Sales Schemes in Northern Ireland, launched by officials, carries on that work in line with the previous Executive’s mandate. This will enable officials to be in a position to offer advice to an incoming Minister on policy options and legislative proposals. The consultation sets out the issues and offers respondents the opportunity to provide their views on the way forward.”
Update at 15.25 on 4.7.18 This story was updated to include another comment from the Department of Communities.
