A Conservative MP has slammed his own party’s Right to Buy policy during today’s reading of the Housing and Planning Bill, warning it could end with social housing in the hands of “yuppies”.
Mark Field, who represents the cities of London and Westminster, said the policy is a threat to London’s “social capital” and warned that it could soon be extended to buy-to-let landlords.
“It has already been mooted, I think, by the opposition benches that buy-to-let landlords should be forced to sell their homes to tenants,” he said.
“I think that would be entirely wrong, but I think it would probably be an extension of what we are proposing.”
Field warned that future generations of London will not be able to benefit from the capital’s valuable social capital.
He called on the housing minister to guarantee that the two new affordable homes pledged to be built for every social home sold through the scheme would be replaced in the capital.
The so-called “two-for-one” amendment to the bill was previously put forward by Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.
Field’s comments echoed those of Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan, who also said there should be a requirement which meant the new homes were built in the same area.
Field said: “I do worry that the forced sale will actually deplete stock and once the windfall has been pocketed, the property concerned will simply be rented out to a high earner.
“That’s what has happened to many of the housing estates in my own constituency where essentially the second or third buyer after a right to buy has been, dare I say it, a well-paid yuppie.”
He also questioned whether it was right to sell-off social housing which had been built with private grants or philanthropic donations specifically for social homes.
In the cities of London and Westminster, the policy would include some of the 10,772 Peabody homes built without government grant, which Field said “risks disregarding the intention of the owner and founder Lord Peabody” who made his endowment in the late 1800s.
Field also said allowing housing association tenants the Right to Buy their homes at discounted prices in areas such as Pimlico would be unfair to those in the private rented sector, “whose voice perhaps isn’t heard as loudly”.
Field was speaking during the second debate in the House of Commons on the report stage of the bill, which focused on the proposed extension of the Right to Buy.
Labour has criticised the policy, claiming that more than 190,000 council houses could be lost by 2020 if the bill is passed.
Housing minister Brandon Lewis said the bill would bring “fairness and efficiency” to the housing market and “further the dreams and aspirations of homeowners”.
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