Greens criticise Boris Johnson’s divisive housing policy that will harm poorest households

9 June 2022

Responding to the news that Boris Johnson is expected to say he wants to extend the right to buy in a speech later today [1], co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Carla Denyer said:

“This is clearly a cynical attempt by the Prime Minister to gain a quick headline for a policy that is supposed to sound aspirational but is in fact divisive and will actually harm the poorest households.

“Extending the right to buy to housing association tenants would simply reduce the amount of affordable social housing we have in this country, when we are already chronically short of places for people on the lowest incomes to live. [2]

“Once again, the Prime Minister’s sums simply don’t add up, with the costs far exceeding the amounts proposed for this ill-judged plan [3]. But even if this policy did go ahead, it’s not clear that this is what people even want. [4]

“Everybody has the right to a safe, warm and affordable place to call home. As such, the Green Party would empower local authorities to bring empty homes back into use and create 100,000 new homes for social rent a year, built to high energy efficiency standards to ensure low bills.

“At the same time, we should be looking to transform the lives of private renters by introducing rent controls that are linked to average local income rates and ending no-fault evictions across the UK, as Greens are already doing as part of the Scottish Government [5].”

ENDS

Notes

1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61739816

2

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/is-right-to-buy-for-housing-association-residents-the-answer-to-affordable-homeownership-75958

3

https://twitter.com/Steven_Swinford/status/1534798842222235650

4

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-month-in-numbers-who-wants-the-right-to-buy-75724

5

https://news.stv.tv/politics/tenants-rights-minister-patrick-harvie-hopes-rent-controls-will-help-to-change-balance-of-power-in-sector

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