"Right to Buy" fuels housing misery (September 2002)

" The Right to Buy is costing the taxpayer billions and increasing the misery of homelessness according to a new report out from Housing pressure group, Shelter, ‘Time for a Change Reforming the Right to Buy’. "

" Figures from Shelter show that the discounts given to tenants under the scheme over the last five years add up to nearly £4.5 billion more than the subsidy for new affordable housing over the same period. The charity estimates the cost of building new affordable homes to compensate for the social housing lettings lost as a result of Right to Buy sales in London and the South East alone will be over £1 billion over a five year period from 2001/02(1). "

Key criticisms made by Shelter of the "Right to Buy" include:

" *It is exacerbating a chronic shortage of affordable housing in many areas and undermining the delivery of many of the Government’s most important economic and social policy objectives

* The high public expenditure costs associated with the scheme are an inefficient use of public funds and offer poor value for money to the taxpayer

* It has increasingly concentrated the lowest income households in the least popular housing, undermining the Government’s social inclusion, opportunity and neighbourhood renewal agendas

* There is growing evidence that the scheme is being unacceptably exploited in ways that undermine other policy objectives "

The report states that in the South East, depending on region, some quarter to third of public housing stock has been lost to "Right to Buy".

The report echoes my own view that "Right to Buy" is fuelling housing misery for a significant and increasing number by providing public subsidy for those already privileged to be living in subsidised housing leaving an ever larger number at the mercy of the unregulated private rental sector. In fact those forced to rent privately are subsidising those profiting from "Right to Buy".

The alleged benefits of "Right to Buy" are in my opinion a myth, or at very best grossly overstated. In the good old days when public housing was readily available, ordinary people enjoyed decent, safe, secure accommodation which was guaranteed to be theirs for as long as they wanted it. Their homes were well maintained, they had a caretaking service, repairs were promptly dealt with, and if they should have fallen upon hard times the rent rebates system ensured they were not left in the gutter.

It seems to me that the most noble of post-WWII aims of caring for citizens from the cardle to the grave has been gradually destroyed by every post '79 administration. That is a matter for grave regret.

Public housing was created to fulfil one of the most basic needs (i.e. decent, secure, affordable accommodation) of those unable to afford to purchase their own homes. At a time when home ownership is moving ever further beyond the reach of the working classes there has never been a greater need for state action both in the direct provision of public housing and the promotion of equivalent alternatives. It is scandalous that the government, and a Labour one at that, continues with such a policy.