§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish any estimates prepared by his Department of the potential implications for local authorities in their efforts to reduce the number of homeless households placed in bed and breakfast accommodation of the introduction by his Department of a scheme providing local authority tenants eligible for the right to buy with a transferable discount for the purchase of a private property on the open market.
§ Sir George YoungThe idea of giving financial incentives to selected council tenants in areas of high housing stress to move out so as to create vacancies for new tenants deserves serious consideration, and several authorities are operating such schemes. Because of the uncertainties over its effectiveness, both in terms of costs and the extent to which the number of homeless households in bed and breakfast accommodation would be reduced as a direct result, it has not so far proved possible to produce any authoritative estimates of the benefits of such a scheme. For this reason, we will initially be evaluating the operation and effectiveness of the schemes currently being run by the London boroughs of Brent and Bromley, to see to what extent there would be any value in introducing a scheme of this nature more widely.