In this section:

Manifesto Watch 25/05/2017

The three main political parties in England have now published their manifestos for the General Election.

 

All three promise to increase the number of new homes built and to give councils and housing associations a bigger role in delivering affordable housing.

 

Among the commitments given:

 

  • The Conservative manifesto promises to enter new Council Housing Deals with ambitious, pro-development councils to help them build more council housing including new fixed-term social houses, which would be sold privately after 10-15 years, with an automatic Right to Buy for tenants, the proceeds of which would be recycled into further homes. 
  • The Labour manifesto sets out plans to build at least 100,000 council and housing association homes a year for 'genuinely' affordable rent or sale by the end of the next Parliament, introduce an inflation cap on rent rises and suspend the Right to Buy policy, with councils only able to resume sales if they have a plan to replace homes sold on a like-for-like basis.   
  • The Liberal Democrat manifesto sets out proposals to introduce a new 'Rent to Own' model, where rent payments would give tenants an increasing stake in the property, owning it outright after 30 years and to lift the borrowing cap on local authorities, and increase the borrowing capacity of housing associations.

 

ARCH policy adviser, Matthew Warburton, has produced a briefing paper for ARCH members summarising the main proposals on housing with a focus on those with implications for stock-retained councils.

 

Download the briefing from our members' area.

Like emailLink
ARCH Member Comments 1 people like this

Housemark