A Double Whammy for the Social Housing Sector

The extended Right to Buy to housing association tenants signals a further blow to the viability of social housing. It comes on top of cuts in capital funding and welfare reforms that have hit social tenants disproportionately hard. Selling housing association homes represents a double whammy for the social housing sector: loss of housing association homes paid for by sale of council homes. The consensus is that the extended Right to Buy will further weaken an already shrinking social housing sector. Social housing will probably be barely 15 per cent of total homes by the time of the next general election. It is also likely that many of sold housing association homes will eventually be owned by private landlords. It is estimated that one-third of ex-council homes sold since 1980 are now in the hands of private landlords. Read more on the Left Foot Forward website.