HOUSING associations buckling under tenants’ Tory right to buy their homes demanded drastic action yesterday to head off a major crisis.

National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr warned that organisations which took over council responsibility under the ex-Labour government’s stock transfer policies were seeing millions drain from their coffers at the expense of “1.7 million people currently waiting for desperately needed social housing across England.”

Yet the Con-Dem government has enthusiastically pushed the programme, increasing discounts in 2012 and again in July.

Around 22,500 homes earmarked for low-income tenants have been sold since April ’12 at reductions of up to 70 per cent.

Lords will debate a government Deregulation Bill this week that could further fuel sell-offs by slashing the number of years someone must rent their home before qualifying for discounts.

The policy contrasts starkly with Scotland, which acted to ban right to buy earlier this year.

Mr Orr said the massive discounts made no sense.

“Unless we can replace every sold home with a new affordable home, there will be drastic consequences for future generations,” he warned.

In one example in high-poverty Lewisham an association with 5,500 ex-local authority homes had lost a property valued at £205,000 but sold for £105,000.

Phoenix Community Housing (PCH) got £27,332 from the sale, with a similar amount going to the council.

PCH chief executive Jim Ripley complained that the cash from the deal “will barely cover the net rental income we have lost on the property.

“It certainly doesn’t provide us with any money to build a new affordable home to replace the sold one.”