'Pay To Stay' Will Bring About The Death Of Social Housing

The budget announcement of a “pay to stay” scheme for tenants in social housing, forcing anyone earning just £30,000 to pay a higher rent to stay in their home (or £40,000 in London), is yet another in a long list of Tory proposals that do nothing to ease the housing crisis and will eventually bring about the death of social housing.  On its own the proposal is frankly irrelevant – it applies only to a handful of tenants and it will be difficult to enforce.  It is only when it is considered with other recent government policies on housing that it can be seen as another nail in the coffin of social renting. It prevents the creation of mixed income communities which was part of Nye Bevan's original vision for social housing in 1945. It links rent to income, which will almost certainly reduce the number of social homes as rents continue to rise with wages. And by converting social tenants onto market rent rates it by implication reduces the amount of social housing we have. Read more on the Independent website.