Sir Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government what steps he has taken to speed up the
delivery of replacement social homes for rent for those lost through Right to
Buy; and if he will make a statement.
Kris Hopkins: The reinvigorated Right to Buy scheme is
helping social tenants become new home owners; it levers in new finance to
increase construction and house building; and it assists new people into
affordable housing who would otherwise be on a housing waiting list. One of the key changes we have made to the Right to Buy
is to ensure that all additional receipts raised from local authority Right to
Buy sales are used to directly fund new homes for affordable rent. Since April
2012, £219 million has been generated from additional sales and 1,622 homes
have been started on site or acquired. There will invariably be a certain time
lag between the Right to Buy sale and the construction of the new build home,
but the replacement timetable is in control of the local authority. If a
council were to fail to spend the receipts within three years, it would be
required to return the unspent money to government with interest. This provides
a strong financial incentive for any slow-coach councils to use this new
funding and get on with building more homes for local people.
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