§ Lord Reayasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assistance is available to tenants of housing associations who wish to buy homes of their own on the open market.
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Caithness)The Housing Corporation's approved development programme for 1989–90 allocates £39 million for the Home Ownership Scheme for Tenants of Charitable Housing Associations, under which portable discounts are paid to people who do not have the right to buy their present homes. There are currently some 3,250 tenants who have applied but are having to wait. They will all be able to proceed by 31st March 1990.
The scheme has helped nearly 6,000 households into home ownership, and released their old homes for reletting, but demand has outpaced the resources available. The rules of the scheme, under which payments are related to right-to-buy discount, are not apt to help as many tenants as possible to buy homes of their own. The scheme is therefore to be superseded by one which will enable resources to be used more efficiently, and no further applications will be accepted after today under the present scheme in England or Wales.
The Housing Corporation is today publishing a consultation document seeking views on proposals for a new scheme to be introduced in 1990–91. 1014WA Housing for Wales will shortly be publishing a separate consultation document in Wales. The proposals are modelled on the powers in Section 129 of the Housing Act 1988 for local authorities to offer financial assistance to tenants to obtain new homes. The forward programme provides substantial funds for the new scheme. It will not be specifically aimed at tenants who do not have the right to buy, but the Housing Corporation envisages that in allocating resources some preference would initially be given to charitable housing associations whose tenants would have qualified for assistance under the present scheme.