There was much to commend in Chris Skidmore’s article in the Telegraph earlier this week, calling for a radical
approach to public services. But there’s one bit that’s worth dissecting: his idea that people in social housing might sell their homes to invest in shared equity, if they behave well.
Here’s what he says:
‘Any social housing tenant, under certain conditions of tenure and behaviour, would be able to sell their property and retain a proportion of the equity, reserved for investing in a shared equity programme, giving them a first step onto the housing ladder. The remaining equity would be used to build more affordable housing to meet demand. In this way, dead equity of around £4 billion could be unlocked, creating a new generation of home owners.’
It’s easy to see why the ‘right to own’ is attractive.
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