By Neil Merrick
13 November 2009
The leader of England’s housing associations is to chair a Conservative Party task force that will study ways of increasing mobility in social housing.
David Orr has agreed to head the task force announced this week by shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, despite vehemently opposing Conservative plans to give tenants a ‘right to move’ home and live in alternative parts of the country.
Speaking on November 9 at the National Housing Federation’s London headquarters, Shapps said a Conservative government would set up a national house-swap scheme for council and housing association tenants. Depending on the success of a pilot, tenants could demand that a landlord sells their home and uses the proceeds to buy a property elsewhere.
When ‘right to move’ was first announced in a Tory policy paper in April, the NHF’s chief executive branded it ‘poorly thought-out, unworkable and a recipe for confusion’. He warned it could lead to associations with properties ‘dotted all over the country’.
But following this week’s announcement, Orr said the task force would examine ideas to increase mobility. ‘It will be a serious opportunity to meet the aspirations of tenants who want to move,’ he said.
An NHF spokesman stressed that the federation’s position on ‘right to move’ had not altered and added that, through the task force, the Tories were challenging the sector to come up with something better.
Other task force members include Gary Porter, chair of the Local Government Association’s environment board, and Alistair McIntosh, head of the National Federation of Arm’s-Length Management Organisations.
Shapps told delegates that an online database would make it easier for social tenants to move home and give them similar rights to private renters and home owners. ‘No-one has yet embraced the internet to inject mobility into social housing,’ he said. ‘Thousands of families will see their lives improve and aspirations reached.’
The Hills review of social housing, commissioned by the government two years ago, called for increased mobility so that tenants could move to find work.
13 November 2009
The leader of England’s housing associations is to chair a Conservative Party task force that will study ways of increasing mobility in social housing.
David Orr has agreed to head the task force announced this week by shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, despite vehemently opposing Conservative plans to give tenants a ‘right to move’ home and live in alternative parts of the country.
Speaking on November 9 at the National Housing Federation’s London headquarters, Shapps said a Conservative government would set up a national house-swap scheme for council and housing association tenants. Depending on the success of a pilot, tenants could demand that a landlord sells their home and uses the proceeds to buy a property elsewhere.
When ‘right to move’ was first announced in a Tory policy paper in April, the NHF’s chief executive branded it ‘poorly thought-out, unworkable and a recipe for confusion’. He warned it could lead to associations with properties ‘dotted all over the country’.
But following this week’s announcement, Orr said the task force would examine ideas to increase mobility. ‘It will be a serious opportunity to meet the aspirations of tenants who want to move,’ he said.
An NHF spokesman stressed that the federation’s position on ‘right to move’ had not altered and added that, through the task force, the Tories were challenging the sector to come up with something better.
Other task force members include Gary Porter, chair of the Local Government Association’s environment board, and Alistair McIntosh, head of the National Federation of Arm’s-Length Management Organisations.
Shapps told delegates that an online database would make it easier for social tenants to move home and give them similar rights to private renters and home owners. ‘No-one has yet embraced the internet to inject mobility into social housing,’ he said. ‘Thousands of families will see their lives improve and aspirations reached.’
The Hills review of social housing, commissioned by the government two years ago, called for increased mobility so that tenants could move to find work.
