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Kelly calls for housing 'shift' | Kelly calls for housing 'shift' |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Communities secretary Ruth Kelly has said council tenants should receive more help to get on the housing ladder. | |
Rising house prices mean some council tenants feel left behind, she is due to a speech to the Fabian Society. | |
She suggests offering a new "right to own" to encourage tenants to buy as little as a 10% stake in their homes, buying more throughout their lives. | She suggests offering a new "right to own" to encourage tenants to buy as little as a 10% stake in their homes, buying more throughout their lives. |
She will say that "right to buy" was life-changing for many and a radical new shift is needed in housing policy. | She will say that "right to buy" was life-changing for many and a radical new shift is needed in housing policy. |
She will also announce more than £400m to improve housing for the elderly, disabled and the vulnerable. | She will also announce more than £400m to improve housing for the elderly, disabled and the vulnerable. |
Social tenants can currently buy a minimum 25% stake in their homes. | |
We need accelerate the pace of improvement and give more tenants a stake in their home and their community Ruth Kelly | We need accelerate the pace of improvement and give more tenants a stake in their home and their community Ruth Kelly |
But Ms Kelly will say social housing tenants could be offered incentives to buy as little as 10% and buy more over years, edging towards full ownership. | But Ms Kelly will say social housing tenants could be offered incentives to buy as little as 10% and buy more over years, edging towards full ownership. |
Pilot schemes had already begun. She said it followed similar private sector schemes where tenants are encouraged to buy a stake in their houses. | |
She said about one in 20 social housing tenants have that opportunity, but questioned why that figure was so low. | |
"Are there barriers in place that we could remove? Or indeed is 25% itself too high an entry level?" she said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. | |
Bridging the divide | |
"If we brought the 25% figure down to 10%, would it be the case that far more social tenants would want to take up the opportunity of home ownership?" | |
She said the aim was to bridge the divide between those people who received help to buy property, such as deposits from their parents, and those who are increasingly priced out of the housing market. | |
She will say that access to such a scheme could be linked to "responsible" tenants who pay rent on time or take part in community schemes. | She will say that access to such a scheme could be linked to "responsible" tenants who pay rent on time or take part in community schemes. |
And she will say that the mistakes of the past - huge high-rise council estates - can never be made again. | And she will say that the mistakes of the past - huge high-rise council estates - can never be made again. |
"As a government we are building more social houses and have a good record of improving existing stock," she will say. | "As a government we are building more social houses and have a good record of improving existing stock," she will say. |
"But we need to accelerate the pace of improvement and give more tenants a stake in their home and their community. | |
"We are looking at a number of ideas to increase home ownership to create a sense of belonging and pride in communities." | "We are looking at a number of ideas to increase home ownership to create a sense of belonging and pride in communities." |
Housing crisis | |
But housing charity Shelter said lowering the threshold of ownership could futher reduce the stock of social housing, just like the right-to-buy sale of council homes in the 1980s. | |
Shelter chief executive Adam Samson said: "I think it's important that everybody, particularly poor people, do get some opportunity to build up some asset base. | |
"But if this is a measure to address housing then I think it is at best relatively irrelevant to the housing crisis and could well exacerbate it because the way the right-to-buy has operated has been to severely reduce the number of homes available for let in the social sector." |