That the Conservatives came up with the idea of extending the right-to-buy to housing association tenants was a symptom of their failure to believe they could win this year’s general election. Such an ill thought-out policy can only have made it into the manifesto in the expectation that it could be used as a bargaining chip in the coalition negotiations which were expected to follow.
Today, communities secretary Greg Clark announced a significant weakening of the manifesto promise. He said he would consider an alternative scheme put forward by the housing associations themselves, which would exempt many properties, such as those funded by charitable donation. In some cases, tenants may be offered the chance to buy alternative properties, with the aid of vouchers funded by taxpayers.
Yet the principle remains: a relative few lucky people with housing association tenancies will be gifted large sums from the public purse to realise their property-owning dreams.
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