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Raab: we will redouble efforts to replace sold Right to Buy homes
Dominic Raab used his keynote speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) conference and exhibition in Manchester to defend the Right to Buy but committed to “redouble” government efforts to replenish stock.
He accepted that the government must take steps to help councils “replenish the stock of subsidised housing” that would be depleted by Right to Buy sales.
Mr Raab said that there would be more detail on how to fund replacement homes in the government’s Social Housing Green Paper, to be published next month.
He said he disagreed with a CIH report, published this week, which called for the suspension of the Right to Buy.
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He told delegates: “I don’t support suspending the Right to Buy, for a number of reasons. My experience first hand with social housing tenants and council tenants is that many people, whatever their means and income, actually dream of owning their own home. I think this is an effective means of doing so.
“The one thing I do accept is that we need to be boosting the capacity of local authorities to replenish the stock of subsidised housing whether it’s social rent or affordable rent, and we will be redoubling our efforts in that regard.”
Figures released this morning show since 2012 more than 66,000 council homes have been sold under Right to Buy and less than 18,000 replacements started. This means the government is missing its limited pledge to replace homes sold.
Mr Raab added: “I think what people worry about is the depletion of the local authority stock of social and affordable rents. So I think the answer is to do both of those things and redouble our efforts.”
In a wide-ranging speech the minister admitted that the government had not acted quickly enough in finding replacement homes for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.
“It should have been faster,” he told the conference. “The community feels very frustrated and rightly so.”
Mr Raab, who was on the campaign committee for Vote Leave before the 2016 EU referendum, also said that Brexit, and the ability for the UK to “control your own borders” could offer opportunities for the housing sector.
He said: “I’ve always argued that there are risks and opportunities to Brexit and so too in the housing sector. The ability to control your own borders will have a two-way effect.
“Of course, on the one hand there’s an opportunity to have a balanced approach to immigration. And although it’s marginal compared to, for example, interest rates or some of the other factors, there’s no doubt that demand for housing has an effect and needs to be played in with the relationship with supply. It has an effect on affordability and house prices as well.”
Earlier this year Mr Raab claimed that immigration had pushed property prices up 20% in the past 25 years. However, he was challenged over these figures and refused to publish the model he used to calculate them.
Mr Raab accepted that the construction industry “has been very dependent on skilled labour from abroad”. He suggested that the increased use of modern methods of construction (MMC) could help “wean us off” overseas labour.
On the green paper, Mr Raab said there would be three central areas on which it will focus: improving relationships between tenants and landlords, addressing the supply of social housing, and dealing with some of the stigmas associated with social housing tenants.
Addressing the last area, he commented: “It’s time to start talking about our social tenants in more aspirational ways.”
