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Housing body comes under fire
A GOVERNMENT scheme which hands tenants of council flats and cheap housing association homes a bigger chance to own their properties has been criticised for only helping a select few.
Both Camden Council and the Community Housing Association are trying out Social Homebuy – a plan aimed at increasing ownership by letting residents invest in part of their homes.
Tenants must be able to afford to buy a half-share in their property at market value and will then pay their usual low cost rent to the council.
The idea is to give residents a stake in the property market and the first step on the way to owning a home outright.
But housing campaigners say the government should be using money to directly invest in social housing rather than offering subsidies only to tenants who can afford to enter the scheme.
There are also concerns that housing stocks will dwindle if control of homes goes private.
Alan Walter, a chief organiser of campaign group Defend Council Housing, who lives in Kentish Town, said: “Money should not be diverted into private subsidies that will benefit the few.”
He added that a lot of residents would be excluded on the grounds they could not afford the initial costs.
Mr Walter said: “The majority of tenants are more worried about affordability than ownership.”
The pilot schemes will run throughout next year and up until a government evaluation in 2008. CHA have sent letters to tenants offering them the chance to sign up.
Housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor said: “I want to ensure we have all the different housing options in Camden to meet residents’ needs. People know that council tenants can already buy their home if they want and there’s government help for this.”
He added: “What’s attractive about this scheme is that it helps people who want a part-rent and part-mortgage deal and helps us help other tenants by ploughing back all of the income into Camden’s housing.”
The CHA did not respond to the New Journal’s request for information. |
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