Right-to-buy promises failing

Tory promises to build one home for every one sold under the controversial right-to-buy scheme are flatlining, with the National Audit Office (NAO) warning that a “fivefold increase” in new developments is needed just to keep up with the number of homes sold under the initiative in 2014-15.

Last year around 13,000 council homes were sold under right-to-buy, while only 2,200 were replaced. In the South East of England, where the worsening housing crisis is biting especially hard, Unite will be holding a regional day of action this Saturday (October 1).

The NAO’s warning that house building needs to increase by five times the current levels came as new data, from the Department for Communities and Local Government, revealed that housing stock acquisition and construction by English local authorities between April and June this year dropped by 41 percent on the previous quarter.

Across England local authorities either began to build or acquired just 422 new homes, compared to 715 during the first quarter of 2016. In the same period there were 3,362 right-to-buy sales, up from 3,276 at the beginning of the year.

Around half of the right-to-buy sales during the first quarter of 2016 were made by 104 local authorities, none of whom reported buying or building any new housing stock. Forty one percent of all the replacement housing created over the first four months of the year, was located within the boundaries of just five local authorities.

Housing and planning minister Gavin Barwell, said the government was “determined” to meet a 2012 promise to replace every home sold under right-to-buy within three years. The pledge stipulated that affordable homes that were going to be sold regardless of the scheme – approximately 2,500 per year – would not be included.

The NAO, however, made clear that for the government to replace homes sold in 2014-15 by the end of 2017-18 “would require quarterly housing starts to reach around 2,130, a fivefold increase on recent figures of approximately 420 per quarter.”

Scrap right-to-buy

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said that not only does the government need to build more affordable homes, it needs to stop selling the ones it already owns. His call came as the Labour Party announced it would scrap right-to-buy in England – the policy has already been scrapped in Wales and Scotland – if it wins power.

“The whole premise of selling off hundreds of thousands of homes when there is a desperate need for more council and truly affordable housing is clearly ridiculous. In reality the only ones to benefit from right-to-buy are the already rich landlords building housing empires as investments, as more and more people are forced into paying higher and higher private rents,” Turner said.

“The fact that the Tory’s promise of building one house for every one sold is falling flat, is just another reminder of how ill thought out and reckless the right-to-buy scheme is. They must recognise that the way to resolve the crisis is by putting people to work in decent jobs building council homes.”

As part of Unite’s campaign to increase the levels of social housing in Britain, the union’s Housing Crisis Roadshow has spent the last month visiting towns and cities across the South East of England to hear people’s concerns. Liane Groves, head of Unite Community, said the same issues have cropped up at every stop.

“We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of people. Nearly everyone had the same thing to say, ‘we need more affordable homes’. The South East is not unique. Creating a national housing bubble is not in the best interests of the vast majority of the people in this country – what we need is homes people can afford to live in.”

On Saturday October 1 the roadshow will hold a regional day of action. For details on how to get involved click here.