The extension of a Right to Buy (RTB) to housing association
tenants to be funded by a high value asset (HVA) levy on stock
retaining councils featured prominently in the 2015 Conservative
Manifesto but is conspicuous by its absence from the Party's 2017
Manifesto.
There is no specific mention in the 2017 Conservative Party
Manifesto of the extension of a RTB to housing association tenants
struck under the voluntary deal with the National Housing
Federation and housing associations. This has led to speculation in
some quarters that the idea of a HVA levy may be quietly dropped,
however the Manifesto does make a commitment to"continue to support
those struggling to buy or rent a home, including those living in a
home owned by a housing association".
The statutory powers to implement the voluntary deal to be
funded by a levy on stock retained councils (based on an assumption
of the likely capital receipts from the sale of so called "higher
value" housing stock) are contained in the Housing and Planning Act
2016; and prior to the announcement of the snap general election,
Ministers had announced an extended regional pilot of the voluntary
RTB deal and confirmed that
local authorities would not be expected to pay a levy in the
2017/18 financial year.
Irrespective of the merits or otherwise of a policy of extending
the RTB to housing association tenants, the proposal to fund the
policy by forcing councils to sell off higher value council housing
as they become vacant is not popular with most stock retained
councils. The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select
Committee recommended in
a recent report that any extension of the RTB to housing
association tenants should be funded by Central Government rather
than through a high value levy on local authorities.
If a Conservative Government is re-elected, ARCH will continue
to press its call for the new government to accept the
recommendation of the CLG Select Committee and to abandon the idea
of a HVA levy on local authorities.