Bradford's homes shortage crisis would worsen under Government's Right to Buy plans, senior councillor warns

Bradford Council's executive member with responsibility for housing, Councillor Val Slater said the answer was to build more affordable housing - not to sell it off to tenants.

Cllr Slater said: "I recognise the aspirations of people that live in a housing association property, but we do have a housing crisis in Bradford.

"The problem is when every time somebody buys a house from the social housing sector it is not replaced - this diminishes the supply. And the compensation that would be put back in is not enough to build a replacement.

"We need to build more affordable housing - something the Council is already doing but the financial model we use would be unworkable if the homes are sold to tenants, as it is based on the rental income paying the interest on the additional amount we borrow."

Cllr Slater backed criticism of the scheme from the National Housing Federation which said the policy was the "wrong solution" and that more affordable homes should be built with the cash instead.

She said the Council had recently been granted another tranche of Homes and Communities Agency funding, which would allow about 200 affordable homes to be built.

The Government's new policy is to be included in tomorrow's Queen's Speech and Communities Secretary Greg Clark today insisted that the policy will not diminish the housing stock - a point welcomed by Bradford's Conservative group leader, Councillor Simon Cooke.

Mr Clark said: "The policy we're announcing in the Queen's Speech is very clear - every property that is sold will be replaced, one-for-one, so the housing stock is being expanded and people can achieve this aspiration that most of us want to own our home."

But Henry Gregg, assistant director at National Housing Federation, said: "Instead of selling off council and housing association homes and reducing the overall number of affordable homes available, we should concentrate on building the 240,000 homes a year we desperately need.

"We fully support the aspiration of home ownership and there are millions of private renters who are desperate to buy but have no hope of doing so, and three million adult children living with their parents. If there are billions of pounds of public money available for housing, we should use it to build new homes for the next generation and end the housing crisis once and for all."

Cllr Cooke said: "We believe that the choice to buy one’s home should be available to as many people as possible.

"It is very important that the Government has committed to providing a new social housing property for each one that is sold, to ensure that the policy does not make it harder for people not in a position to buy a property, to find somewhere decent to live."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the Council, said she had concerns that a scheme which was one of the "biggest distributors of wealth" in the district, could also "push Bradford off a cliff".

"We need to be absolutely clear that we have a shortage of social housing, and we have a particular problem in Bradford. In some inner city areas private sector rents are much lower than social housing, which is a particular market failure in Bradford.

"Given that, I would want to understand the impact of a one size fits all reform on a place like Bradford before I could understand whether it is a good thing."

A spokesman for Bradford's largest social housing provider, Incommunities, said: “About two-thirds of our customers could be eligible in the new ‘Right to Buy’ legislation.

“As a major housing provider we welcome any proposals which would increase the supply of housing stock. Our concern is the planned new policy could lead to a reduction in the provision of social housing and our ability to provide much needed affordable homes for people in the district.

“We await details of the proposal in the Queen’s Speech and we would examine the implications for the organisation in due course.”