Figures released
today by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have
revealed that 11,465 homes were sold by councils under the right to buy scheme
in 2017/18, while only 4,944 were started or acquired to replace them using the
receipts.
Since right to buy
discounts were increased in April 2012 66,647 homes have been sold, while
17,911 have been started or acquired to replace them.
Chartered Institute
of Housing chief executive Terrie Alafat CBE said: “It cannot be right that not
only are we not building enough homes for social rent, we are losing them at a
time when we need them more than ever. Our analysis shows that we have lost
more than 150,000 social rented homes between 2012 and 2017 due to right to buy
and other factors, and that figure will reach 230,000 by 2020 unless we take
action now.
“We support the
principle of helping tenants move into home ownership but it cannot be at the
expense of other people in need. We need to look at fairer ways to help tenants
into home ownership, because this is clearly not the way to do it.
“We are calling on
the government to suspend the right to buy to stem the loss of social rented
homes, remove the barriers stopping councils from replacing homes sold under
the scheme and look at more effective ways to help people access home
ownership.”
