Charity Warns Leeds Would be Hit Hard by 'Right to Buy' Plans
Government plans to sell off the most expensive council houses would hit Leeds harder than anywhere else in the region, according to Shelter.
The housing charity claims that more families would be unable to afford a roof over their heads because they would be forced to turn to ‘expensive and unstable’ private renting.
“We absolutely expect that this is going to force more and more families into private renting,” says Senior Policy Officer Pete Jeffries.
“Every day we hear from people who are finding private renting too expensive and not enough security. You’re on short term contracts, you can easily be evicted. And so more and more families are going to find themselves in that situation because there will be fewer genuinely affordable long-term homes.”
The proposed scheme would force council homes worth more than a set threshold for the region to be sold once they become vacant. The money would then be used to fund new discounts of up to £100,000 for housing association tenants taking up the Right to Buy scheme.
Shelter’s research shows that around 8,360 council homes in Yorkshire & the Humber could face being sold on the private market.
According to the charity’s estimates, Leeds would be the worst hit area in the region, with close to 3,460 homes facing forced sale - equivalent to 6 per cent of the area’s total council housing stock.
Harrogate could be forced to sell approximately 1,127 homes, or nearly 29 per cent of their total stock.
Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “At a time when millions of families are struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, plans to sell off large swathes of the few genuinely affordable homes we have left is only going to make things worse.
“More and more families with barely a hope of ever affording a home of their own and who no longer have the option of social housing will be forced into unstable and expensive private renting.
“The government needs to scrap this proposal and start helping the millions of ordinary families struggling with sky high housing costs. If George Osborne is serious about turning around the housing crisis, the autumn spending review is his last chance to invest in the genuinely affordable homes this country desperately needs.”
Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, Transport and Planning said: *“In Leeds, the average rent for a Council house is £74.38 a week. The Local Housing Allowance –the maximum amount of rent the Council will pay for a privately rented home- is £122.36 a week for a two bedroom home. So we will have to pay nearly £50 over the odds for exactly the same home. *
“The working tenant getting no housing benefit will have to pay more- pushing them further towards poverty just to have a roof over their head.
“I’d also question whether the government are really looking at “high value” stock. This policy does look like it was created for London and the South East, where sales prices are massively higher than the cost of building.
“Changing the owner from a Council or Housing Association to a private landlord is not the answer. Instead, central government’s money would be better spent trying to increase the number of truly affordable properties across the Country.”