22 November 2011 // New Government Housing Strategy

NEW GOVERNMENT HOUSING STRATEGY - SUPPORTING CHOICE AND QUALITY FOR TENANTS.


Supporting growth and investment in the private rented housing market. There will be an independent review of the barriers to investment in private homes to rent. The Government are also supporting new Build to Let models of development, where homes are built specifically for the private rental market, with funding from investors with a medium to long term interest. There will be pilot projects to develop this approach.

• Giving more freedom to local authorities which have retained their housing stock. Local authorities will have direct financial and strategic responsibility for the 1.7 million council homes

• Introduction of a radical programme of reform of social housing through the Localism Act 2011, changing the way in which people access social housing, the types of tenancies which are provided and the way that the homelessness duty is discharged

• Doing more to tackle fraud and tenancy abuse – the Government propose to give social landlords the tools to identify and recover properties that are being used unlawfully; to charge more reasonable market orientated rents from people earning very high salaries; and to prevent people who already own a suitable home from seeking social housing as well

• Consideration of how more affordable housing can be encouraged – supporting greater innovation and competition between social landlords – including encouraging new private entrants into the social housing market, and considering innovative new approaches to funding affordable housing in the medium term

• Reinvigorating the Right to Buy by raising the discounts to make it attractive to tenants across England. The Government is matching this with a commitment that, for every additional home bought under Right to Buy, a new affordable home will be built