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.