Right to Buy: Housing Associations — House of Lords, 2015-10-12
Topic: Housing
Susan Williams (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will repeat as a Statement an Answer given earlier by my honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning. The Statement is as follows "As stated in our manifesto, this Government want to give housing association tenants the same home ownership opportunities as council tenants. Since the introduction of right to buy, nearly 2 million households have been helped to realise their aspirations to own their own homes—46,000 sales since April 2010, with nearly 40,000 of those under the reinvigorated scheme introduced in 2012 by the last Government This Government want to help families achieve their dream of home ownership, but about 1.3 million tenants of housing associations are not able to benefit from the discounts that the last Government introduced. That is why we want to give housing association tenants the same home ownership opportunities as council tenants At present, we have a situation where some housing association tenants have the preserved right to buy at full discount levels, some have the right to acquire at lower discount levels, and others have no rights at all. That cannot be right, and the Government want to end this inequity for tenants and extend the higher discount to housing associations On 7 October, the Prime Minister announced that a deal had been agreed with the National Housing Federation and its members which would give tenants of housing associations the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the right to buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of right to buy to 1.3 million tenants In summary, the deal will enable the following: 1.3 million families will be given the opportunity to purchase a home at right-to-buy-level discounts, subject to the overall availability of funding for the scheme and the eligibility requirements. The presumption is that housing associations will sell the tenant the property in which they live The Government will compensate the housing association for the discount offered to the tenant, and housing associations will retain the sales receipt to enable them to reinvest in the delivery of new homes. Housing associations will use the sales proceeds to deliver new supply and will have the flexibility, but not the obligation, to replace rented homes with other tenures such as shared ownership. The Government will continue to work with the National Housing Federation and its members to develop new and innovative products, so that every tenant can buy a stake in their home As part of the agreement, the Government will also implement deregulatory measures which will support housing associations in their objectives to help support tenants into home ownership and deliver the additional supply of new homes. Boosting the number of sales to tenants will generate an increase in receipts for housing associations, enabling them to reinvest in the delivery of new homes. Housing associations will be able to use sales proceeds to deliver new supply and will have flexibility to replace rented homes with other tenures such as shared ownership Housing associations have a strong record in delivering new homes, as evidenced by the way we have exceeded our affordable homes target, delivering nearly 186,000, which is 16,000 more than originally planned, between 2011 and 2015 We want more people to be able to own a home of their own, and extending the right to buy is a key part of this, giving tenants aspiration and something to strive for. Extending the right to buy will enable tenants of housing associations to have the opportunity for the first time to purchase their home at the same discount level currently enjoyed by tenants of councils We will now be working closely with the sector on the implementation of the deal, and I will update honourable Members in due course on the next stage of the implementation".