Council house sales rising in Kensington and Chelsea, figures show
More council houses are being sold under Right to Buy in Kensington and Chelsea, bucking the trend across England.
The Local Government Association says there is a “desperate need” to stop sales and invest more in increasing the stock of affordable homes.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that Kensington and Chelsea Council sold 12 council houses under the Right to Buy scheme, in 2018-19.
That’s the same number of homes bought or started to be built by the council over the period, remaining the council home stock steady.
The number of sales increased compared to the previous year, when the council sold nine buildings.
Right to Buy was implemented by the Conservative government in 1980, with the aim of helping council house tenants buy their rented homes at a discount.
A Local Government Association spokesperson, said money spent on housing benefit should go towards building new homes to tackle the housing crisis.
She said: “The loss of social housing means that we are spending more and more on housing benefit to supplement expensive rents, instead of investing in genuinely affordable homes.
“The Government must go beyond the limited measures announced so far, scrap the housing borrowing cap, and enable all councils across the country to borrow to build once more.
“We have long called for reforms to devolve the Right to Buy scheme so that councils can set discounts locally and retain 100% of their receipts to invest in more homes locally.”
Nationally, 10,213 council homes were purchased by tenants in 2018-19 – 2,663 fewer than during the previous year.
However, only 4,671 new homes were added to the local authorities’ stock over the year.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Right to Buy has helped people who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford to buy. Sadly, we’re still building far fewer homes than we’re selling off.
“This has hugely reduced the amount of social housing available, and is nothing short of a disaster when hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and millions are struggling in deeply insecure and expensive private renting.
“There’s an obvious solution – build more social homes and ensure those sold are always replaced. We need 3.1 million new social homes over the next 20 years.”
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
