Home ownership provides people with security in the most challenging of times, but declining homeownership rates means the Government must do more to help people onto the property ladder.
That is why I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment recently to reversing declining ownership rates and unlocking the opportunity of home ownership, putting more people in the position to buy and ensuring people are incentivised to save for a deposit no matter their financial situation–including housing association tenants.
New incentives will also turn benefits into bricks by removing home ownership and deposit saving disincentives from the welfare system–removing barriers and giving those on welfare a new choice: to use their benefit towards their first new mortgage instead of simply on rent.
However, the Right to Buy scheme has helped first time buyers for many years. Local councils have been part of this scheme since The Housing Act 1980 was passed in Parliament.
Around 100,000 social housing residents have been able to purchase their home at a discounted rate over the last decade thanks to the Right to Buy scheme. To account for price differences, the discount available currently stands at £116,200 in London and £87,200 in the rest of England.
To further support local authority development, a package of reforms has been brought forward to give local authorities increased flexibility over how they spend their Right to Buy receipts on replacement homes. This makes it easier for authorities to fund new homes using Right to Buy receipts including homes for social rent.
You can find out if you are eligible to purchase your council home online at this address: https://www.gov.uk/right-to-buy-buying-your-council-home . In addition to this, any tenants with Great Yarmouth Borough Council who may be interested in the Right to Buy Scheme can find further information here: https://www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/article/6239/How-to-apply.
Moving forward, over £12 billion in funding has been announced to build more affordable homes, including homes for social rent in the coming years, which is the biggest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade.
The Government want Housing Association tenants to have the same opportunity as local authority tenants to enjoy the benefits that home ownership brings, while working with the sector to bring forward a scheme that supports tenants and that makes sure that the homes that are sold are replaced.
These measures sit alongside reforms to help people cut costs in every area of household expenditure, from food to energy to childcare to transport and housing, as this Conservative Government tackles the cost of living in every possible area.
