Rachel Reeves is to slash the Right To Buy discount given to those purchasing their council house in Wednesday’s Budget.
The move is part of a wider housing package that has been hailed by the deputy prime minister Angela Rayer, who used the right to buy scheme to buy her Stockport house in 2007.
She later turned a £48,500 profit on the house, when she sold it in 2015.
Further details are due to be set out in the Budget, but it’s thought the discount available could be cut from a maximum 70% to 25%.
Rayner says the move will help “deliver a social and affordable housing boom, supporting millions of people up and down the country into a safe, affordable and decent home they can be proud of.”
Councils will also be able to keep 100 per cent of the receipts from sales of council houses in a bid to “scale-up delivery” of new social housing.
Reeves will also announce a £500mboost to deliver thousands of new affordable homes in her statement on Wednesday.
The Chancellor comments: “We need to fix the housing crisis in this country. It’s created a generation locked out of the property market, torn apart communities and put the brakes on economic growth.”
Right to Buy discounts will be cut and there will be a consultation on a new long-term rent settlement for social housing.
Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, says: “This boost in funding is a welcome step towards tackling the housing emergency. To get a grip on rocketing homelessness the vast majority of this funding needs to be focused on social rent.
“For decades we’ve lost more social homes than we’ve built, causing private rents to soar to record highs and the homeless accommodation bill to hit the billions. Families across the country have paid the price with over 151,000 children homeless, often living out of suitcases in grotty one-bed hostels and spending sleepless nights worried if they will ever find a secure home.
“If the Government is to reach its target of building 1.5m homes, it must now use the spring spending review to deliver 90,000 social homes per year for 10 years. Not only will these pay for themselves through new jobs and savings for the NHS and benefits bill, they’ll finally end homelessness for good.”
On top of this, the government is confirming £128m of funding to deliver the following projects which will deliver new homes at complex brownfield sites:
- Confirmation of a £56m investment at Liverpool Central Docks which is expected to deliver 2,000 homes in North Liverpool, along with office, retail, leisure, and hotel facilities;
- A £25 million investment in a joint venture to establish a new fund with Muse Places Limited and Pension Insurance Corporation to deliver 3,000 energy-efficient new homes across the country, with a target of 100% of these being affordable;
- The confirmation of £47m to local authorities to tackle pollution in our rivers, which has halted housebuilding in highly polluted areas. This funding could support the delivery of an estimated 28,000 homes that cannot be built currently due to these restrictions.