19 July 2002
Subsidised sales of council homes, introduced by the Conservatives 20 years ago, are incompatible with raising the status of social housing, said the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Chartered Institute of Housing. Tenants should be offered an equity stake without them becoming owner-occupiers.
Four models are proposed in the report, A stake worth having?, launched at Westminster on July 15. The most likely is some form of tenant asset account, which would be credited as tenants accumulate 'rental miles' based on the length of their tenure.
Other suggestions include shared ownership or linking the stake to the collective equity of the area through participation in a community trust. The right to buy (RTB) would be abolished, suspended or offered as an alternative to any equity stakes scheme.
More than 1.5 million council homes have been sold in England since 1980 under the RTB. Just over 4 million remain in the ownership of councils or registered social landlords.
Sue Regan, one of the report's authors, said: 'Equity stakes are about giving people the opportunity to buy into social housing rather than them being subsidised to buy out of it.'
The report says tenants are more likely to alter their perception of social housing if they have an incentive for valuing their tenancy.
But equity stakes would almost certainly have to be funded by the government through the housing revenue account subsidy system or by paying extra social housing grant to RSLs.
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