Communities Secretary Greg Clark is to announce landmark changes to spread home ownership to millions.
- Government confirmed in first Queen’s Speech measures including a ground-breaking Housing Bill
- Right to Buy to be extended to 1.3 million housing association tenants
- Sweeping new measures, including a Right to Build, to also boost house building
Communities Secretary Greg Clark said:
Our Housing Bill will offer over a million people a helping hand onto the housing ladder. That is what a government for working people is about – making sure people have the security they need to build a brighter future for them and their families.
The Bill includes a comprehensive range of measures to offer England’s 1.3 million housing association tenants the chance to benefit from the same opportunities council tenants enjoy, with significant discounts to buy their homes.
Receipts from selling an owner’s current property will help build replacement affordable homes on a one-for-one basis. This means the number of homes across all tenures will effectively double for each home sold, increasing national housing supply and creating a new affordable home for those in need from each sale.
First-time buyers will be further helped by plans to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes, which will be available at a 20% discount to first-time buyers under 40.
A ‘Right to Build’ in the Bill will also help increase housing supply and diversify the housing sector by giving people the right to be allocated land with planning permission for them to self-build or commission a local builder to build a home. Self-build delivers a majority of homes in many other countries and can act as a boost to smaller and medium sized builders.
The Bill will confirm housing as a priority for the government, and ensure home ownership is once again seen as an attainable aspiration.
