Speaking at the Fabian Society, the Minister outlined the government’s plans to place renewed focus on social housing and helping those for whom owning a home was out of reach, under the ‘Right to Own’ banner.
Kelly insisted more homes were needed and committed the government to targeting 200,000 new properties a year by 2016, with an increase in the 30,000 social homes currently being built annually.
She said: “We want many more social homes but at the same time we can do more to support people’s aspiration of home ownership. This is certainly not a question of either, or. Many homeowners, and not just the richest, have benefited from the growth in prices in recent years. The problem is what happens to those who are unable to get a foot on the bottom of the property ladder.”
Kelly also insisted that government policy needed to be ‘flexible and ambitious enough’ to deliver genuine differences, with developments also linked to where people wanted to live and environmental concerns.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, commented:
“We have long argued for greater choice and flexibility for tenants to help them buy their home but this must not come at the expense of urgently needed new affordable homes. We would welcome more government support for shared equity schemes but funding shouldn’t be diverted from affordable housing supply to pay for it.”
Neil Johnson, head of PR and policy at the Building Societies Association, said: “It’s theoretically a good idea but 10 per cent isn’t a great deal in financial terms so while they will be able to build up equity, they’re starting from a very low base. 200,000 new homes is the bare minimum to contain house prices but not enough to impact on them.”
