The proposal to force HA's to sell their most valuable properties, in order to pay for the extension of the Right to Buy, is very concerning. It is, of course, everybody's aspiration to own their own home, but when a flat / house was available as social housing the tenant who wants to buy, who at one time was on the waiting list, got housed. Fast forward say, five years (or the time one is eligible to apply to buy) and a tenant Iin equal circumstances will not have a chance to move into a desirable property. Why? Because the most desirable properties will be sold and the social segregation that will follow will become even more acute.
Most tenants in social housing did not vote for the blue brigade and they are concerned that the HA will want to focus on moving tenants on against their wishes.
One report released revealed that 36% of council homes bought under Right to Buy were now rented out privately, at a far higher cost to tenants than council rents.In Tower Hamlets, where the child poverty rate stands at 40%, one in two former council homes are now let privately. In Barking and Dagenham, one of the poorest boroughs in Britain, 41% of Right to Buy homes are now privately let. In Enfield, where one-third of children live in relative poverty, the figure was 49%. |