This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
A LONDON council threatened yesterday to “reconsider” its relationship with housing associations that vote in favour of a voluntary extension of the right to buy.
Labour Camden Council leader Sarah Hayward wrote an open letter criticising a deal proposed by the National Housing Federation (NHF) just days ahead of the Conservative Party conference.
The NHF recommended that associations agree to the voluntary extension, since if they did not the Tories would push through legislation forcing the private charities to sell properties to their tenants.
Ms Hayward said it was an attempt by the government to “drive a wedge” between councils and social housing providers and called on associations to reject the offer on principle.
She also criticised the Tories for the timing of the offer. Associations only had six working days to consult tenants, staff and board members.
Ms Hayward claimed that the party tried to force a resolution in time for their conference in Manchester this weekend as the ballot will close today.
She added that 40 per cent of council homes would have to be sold in Camden as they become vacant in order to finance the discounts offered to tenants under right to buy.
The Tory policy “will exacerbate the housing crisis, not solve it” while thousands of people wait years on housing lists for a truly affordable property to rent — if they get one at all.
“It is clear that government has not thought through the consequences of the right to buy and other related housing policies,” Ms Hayward wrote in the letter.
And she told the Star: “The council currently works closely in strategic partnerships with housing associations.
“Depending on the responses I receive to my letter and the result of the vote this week I may ask the council to reconsider its relationship with some, if not all, of the housing associations.”
The threat came as London’s Haringey Council confirmed this week that it had held discussions with other boroughs on a possible legal challenge to the NHF recommendation, which a large majority of associations have accepted.
