Impacts Of Right To Buy On Housing Association Tenants

In July 2015, the Government confirmed the introduction of RTB level discounts for housing association tenants. The funding to compensate them should be made available by the forced sale of higher value local authority properties when they become vacant. Government intends that sold off stock will be replaced on a one-for-one basis. Importantly though, the replacement stock will not necessarily be of the same tenure as the housing it replaces.  A JRF report investigated the impacts of these policies under three scenarios:

1: Replacements built within three years and let at the same rents as the stock it replaced

2: Replacements built within three years and is let at Affordable Rents.

3: Replacements built for sale as shared ownership.

Although 1.3 million housing association tenants are gaining the RTB, JRF estimates that only around 180,000 of these appear to be able to afford to exercise this. Read more on the Sustainable Homes website.