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Right to Buy replacements slip further behind target
The government has slipped further behind its Right to Buy replacements pledge, after 2,452 social homes were sold and just 837 replacements were started in the first quarter of 2018/19.
The number of homes sold between April and June this year was a 13% drop on the same quarter last year, according to Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government figures published today.
But the number of replacements was a 14% slide on the equivalent quarter last year.
The government admitted in March that it had, for the first time, fallen behind on its pledge to replace council housing sold under Right to Buy. At the time it promised to consult on additional flexibilities for councils to replace homes as a result.
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Last month the government proposed scrapping its commitment to replace homes sold through the Right to Buy on a like-for-like basis and instead using a new measurement that would include those built by housing associations.
Former housing minister and now aide to Theresa May, Gavin Barwell, said last year that Right to Buy is “only politically justifiable” if the replacements pledge is being met.
Inside Housing first revealed in 2016 that the government was on course to break the pledge.
The government promised to replace all “additional” homes sold on a one-for-one basis when it raised discounts to revitalise the Right to Buy in 2012.
It calculates this with an assessment of what sales would have been had the discounts never been made, subtracted from actual sales. It also builds in a three-year window to replace the homes.
This means, to hit this target it needs 21,265 homes to say it is meeting this pledge. Currently, 18,958 have been started meaning it is 2,307 homes short.
Overall, 69,467 homes have been sold since discounts were raised.
Only around half of the replacements are for social rent, Inside Housing research has revealed.
Melanie Rees, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “We know that the government is consulting on ways to make it easier for councils to replace the homes they sell under right to buy, which is welcome – but we still believe ministers should suspend the scheme to stem the loss of social rented homes and look at more effective ways to help people access home ownership.”
