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Delayed Right to Buy pilot for housing association tenants to go ahead
The government’s delayed Right to Buy pilot for housing association tenants will go ahead in the Midlands from July next year for one year.
A question mark has hung over the pilot that was first announced at the Autumn Statement last year after it was not introduced as expected in April.
However, today’s Autumn Budget documents reveal that funding has been set aside for the pilot - with £85m of additional spend planned in 2019/20. The total cost will be £200m.
An extract from the Budget states: “The Budget confirms that government will proceed with a £200m large-scale regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants in the Midlands”.
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Last year’s Budget announced a five year pilot which was due to go ahead in April this year, but this now been replaced by a new pilot that will run for one year from July 2018.
The Office for Budget Responsibility also said that whilst the policy was passed in the Housing and Planning Act in May 2016 the government has said the secondary legislation detailing how the policy will work is "pending".
There was no further mention of the sale of high-value council homes in the Budget documents, which is supposed to fund the wider roll out of the scheme. The pilot will be funded through central government cash.
Inside Housing previously revealed that the West Midlands had been chosen to pilot the policy.
This story was updated following clarification from the Treasury.
KEY BUDGET MEASURES AT-A-GLANCE
- Investment of £44bn in housebuilding in capital funding, loans and guarantees over the next five years to boost supply of skills, resources and land
- Commitment to be building 300,000 homes a year by mid-2020s
- £1.5bn package of changes to Universal Credit announced. This includes the scrapping of the seven-day waiting period at the beginning of a claim, making a full month’s advance available within five days of a claim for those that need it and allowing claimants on housing benefit to continue claiming for two weeks
- Lift council borrowing caps in "high-demand areas"
- A £125m increase over two years in Targeted Affordability Funding for Local Housing Allowance claimants in the private sector struggling to pay their rent
- New money into Home Builders Fund
- Extra £2.7bn for Housing Infrastructure Fund
- Invest £400m in estate regeneration
- £1.1bn on unlocking strategic sites
- Stamp duty for first time buyers on properties worth up to £300k will be axed, while the first £300k on properties worth up to £500k will also be scrapped
- Three new Housing First pilots announced for West Midlands, Manchester and Liverpool
- Councils to be given the power to charge 100% council tax premium on empty properties
- Government will launch a consultation to barriers to longer tenancies in the private rented sector
- £38m for Kensington & Chelsea Council for mental health and counselling services, regeneration projects in areas surrounding Grenfell Tower and a new community space
- Invest in five new garden towns
- £125m increase in Targeted Affordability Funding for Local Housing Allowance claimants in the private sector struggling to pay rent
