April 18: ‘Right-to-buy’ will add to housing shortage

THE Conservatives are showing signs of desperation when they offer the tenants of co-ownership houses the bribe of being able to buy their house at a cheap rate.

Firstly I feel that the “right to buy” regarding council houses should be stopped because it continually adds to the social housing shortage and this new Thatcher style bribe is astonishing.

Far from solving the housing shortage, it will actually increase it – their costing theory is ill thought out because it is highly doubtful the money raised will go into building further social housing.

Anyone with a modicum of sense will realise that once the co-ownership companies come to understand that any houses they build will have to be sold off at a loss after three years, they will cease to invest in new-builds, because it does not make financial sense or create any profit for further investment. The idea put forward that it will be the local councils’ responsibility to build more houses as replacements is a pie-in-the-sky attitude from the Conservatives because we all know from experience the promises made for more social housing to be built evaporates once the general election is over, especially with further austerity measures forecast for the future.