The report called the scheme a ‘deliberate echo’ of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy of the 1980s, this time extending a 70% discount to 1.3 million families living in housing association properties.
A radio campaign featuring TV property expert Phil Spencer is launching this week encouraging the public to buy their own homes through various government schemes.
Ministers are also launching a new home owning ISA at the beginning of December. The government is promising to put in £50 for every £200 saved in a Help to Buy ISA, up to a maximum of £3,000.
The Right to Buy scheme has created nearly 44,000 homeowners in the last three years since the government deepened the discounts, rising to £77,900 across England and £103,900 in London.
The scheme has come under fire for failing to replace stock sold to council tenants and was returned to the House of Commons by the Lords but a Commons Committee is expected to report on 10 December.
Using government data, Shelter estimated that Camden would be the worst hit by the council sell-off, with more than 11,700 homes likely to be sold under the scheme – equivalent to almost 50% of the borough’s total council housing stock. Kensington and Chelsea could see 97% of council homes sold off, totalling 6,600 properties.
Outside of London, over 3,200 homes or 46% of total stock could be sold in Cambridge, while York could see over 1,400 homes or nearly a fifth of council housing stock lost to the scheme.
The report also revealed that even once homes are sold a £2.45bn shortfall over four years would be left, creating a gap in funding for the discounts of further house purchases and replacement stock.
Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said the scheme would force social housing tenants into the ‘expensive and unstable’ private rental sector.
“At a time when millions of families are struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, plans to sell off large swathes of the few genuinely affordable homes we have left is only going to make things worse,” he said.
In the first major national study, research from Inside Housing magazine revealed 40% of ex-council flats are now rented privately, sometimes for more than four times the previous rental rate.
