The UK government, led by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, is contemplating significant changes to the Right to Buy scheme in England, indicating a potential halt on the sale of new council houses. This move aims to preserve the stock of social housing amidst a growing homelessness crisis. Launched in 1980 by Margaret Thatcher, the Right to Buy scheme has enabled council house tenants to purchase their homes at substantial discounts, leading to nearly 2 million homes being sold over the decades.
While the scheme was initially lauded for improving home ownership rates among working-class families, it has increasingly been criticized for contributing to a shortage of social housing and exacerbating homelessness issues. In response to these concerns, Rayner emphasized the need for stringent restrictions on new social housing to prevent these properties from exiting the public housing system. “We’ll be putting restrictions on them so that we aren’t losing those homes… we’re not losing that stock,” Rayner stated in an interview with the BBC.
This stance comes as England faces what Rayner describes as a “catastrophic emergency situation” regarding homelessness. The government is set to launch a consultation on revising the Right to Buy policy this autumn, reflecting Labour’s commitment in their election manifesto to enhance protections on newly built social housing.
Labour has also pledged to build 1.5 million houses during this parliament session, though specifics on the number of social homes remain undefined. The Right to Buy scheme has already been terminated in Scotland in 2016 and in Wales in 2019. Labour’s current administration has proposed reducing the discounts available to buyers in England, with figures ranging between £16,000 and £38,000 based on location.
Additionally, recent budget announcements by Rachel Reeves have introduced measures allowing councils to retain all proceeds from social housing sales, a policy briefly implemented by the previous Conservative government until March 2024. Meanwhile, regional voices like Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, advocate for suspending the Right to Buy for new properties, citing worsening housing crises in urban areas.
The policy revision comes a decade after David Cameron revitalized the Right to Buy scheme in 2012, increasing discounts for tenants. Boris Johnson further expanded this initiative in 2022 to include tenants of housing associations, continuing the controversial yet transformative housing policy.
