End of Thatcherism as Tories embrace renting to fix '˜broken' housing market

As he prepared to unveil measures to help people priced out of buying a home and to bring more stability to renters, Mr Javid appeared to be disowning the home ownership-focused agenda dating back to Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s.

The housing white paper being published on Tuesday will set out plans to make more longer-term tenancies available in the private sector to give greater security to renters, as well as addressing record high house prices.

Mr Javid said it was “time to get real”.

“People want a decent home to buy or a decent home to rent, it’s a choice for them, we should be helping both types of tenancies,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Asked if the Government would prioritise home ownership, he said: “It is a false choice. The reality is we need more homes, whether to rent or buy.”

The white paper also outlines plans to instruct local authorities to use city centre sites in order to meet demand.

Four out of 10 councils lack an adequate strategy to meet housing demand, according to the Government, which intends to ensure development need is reviewed every five years.

Mr Javid said more “imaginative” approaches were needed to prevent younger generations having the door to the housing market “slammed shut in their faces”.

Rather than encroaching on the countryside, he suggested more people could be crammed into the same space by building more low-rise blocks and by developing derelict sites because cities like London are much less densely populated than other European capitals.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he went on: “But increasing density doesn’t mean filling our towns and cities with huge, ugly tower blocks packed with tiny one-bed rabbit hutches.

“There’s plenty of scope for building more of the high-quality homes people want to live in, in places where they want to live.”

Proposals for a new Lifetime ISA to help first-time buyers save for a deposit and extending Right to Buy discounts to housing association tenants are also part of the plans.

Ministers will also consult on measures “to tackle all unfair and unreasonable abuses of leasehold”, and move to reduce the number of properties left standing empty.

The white paper states that “only in exceptional circumstances” can local authorities alter Green Belt boundaries.

A £3 billion home-building fund aims to help small firms as 60% of new dwellings are currently constructed by just 10 companies.

The Communities Secretary said the fund will help build more than 25,000 new homes by 2020, and up to 225,000 in the long term by providing loans for small firms and custom builders.

From next April a Lifetime ISA will be launched, aimed at supporting younger adults to save flexibly for the long term by giving them a 25% bonus on up to £4,000 of savings a year.

The Government said the extra £1.4 billion announced in the Autumn Statement will boost the Affordable Homes Programme and initiatives like the Rent to Buy scheme.

The white paper includes measures to more accurately reflect housing need in the future, giving councils revised powers to speed up the building of new homes, and to place developments where they are most needed.

“The housing market in this country is broken and the solution means building many more houses in the places that people want to live,” Mr Javid said.

Labour accused the Government of waving a white flag, saying its plans for reform do not go far enough.

Shadow housing minister John Healey said the Tories had given up on home ownership, while its proposals for longer term tenancies in the private rented sector needed to be backed by legislation.