Birmingham council tenants have spoilt the governments plans by refusing to agree to the sale of their homes to a housing association.
Matt Weaver, housing and regeneration reporter for societyguardian.co.uk, writes that the worry for the government is that of the remaining 2.9m council homes, 2m of them are in urban areas like Birmingham.
He says the question now is what will happen to homes in areas where transfer has been rejected.
The governments target of bringing all council housing up to a decent standard by 2010 will be missed if ministers cannot find a solution.
The Guardian 10/05/02 page 17 (analysis)
