Four things the government is doing which are likely to reduce the supply of affordable homes
30 Oct 2015
- They want to force housing associations to sell their homes at a discount. This is potentially good news for the housing associations' current tenants but not such good news for people who would like to be a housing association tenant. (It also makes it more difficult for housing associations to borrow to build new homes).
- They want to force councils to sell the most desirable of their existing housing stock. When a tenant leaves "desirable" housing rather than giving another person on the waiting list the opportunity to rent the government wants the council to sell the house.
- Sometimes councils are able to force developers to include some "affordable" houses in new developments. The government wants to change the law so that developers do not have to provide homes to rent but can just offer discounts on houses to buy.
- Changing the rules on inheritance tax to allow people to pass on a house worth up to a million pounds tax free when they die. Tax advisers are likely to offer advice to the elderly to "hang on" to valuable houses rather than
trade down to something more manageable.