Minister Signals Move Away from Home Ownership Focus
The Housing Minister in England John Healey has given his strongest indication yet that he would like to see more choice and flexibility in the way people can own or rent a home and move between the two tenures, a move welcomed by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). *ENDS*
The Minister’s speech to the Fabian Society on 9 December acknowledged that it was "not such a bad thing" that fewer people were opting for homeownership now than ten years ago, and called for a "new ownership model. Not all or nothing, but a flexible system which suits the different stages in people’s lives…" In a radical departure from the home ownership focus of previous housing ministers, John Healey appears to back the CIH’s proposals to put renting and owning on a level playing field. A new approach could mean that any individual could rent, own, build up part ownership, or scale down their ownership share in order to meet their changing circumstances, without moving home.
Richard Capie, CIH Director of Policy and Practice said: "It’s reassuring to see a shift in the view that ownership is the ideal tenure for everyone and that there is only one direction up the ‘housing ladder’. This recession has brought existing problems in our housing system into sharp relief, and it is always valuable when a Minister like John Healey is willing to encourage debate to start moving the country to a system that works quite differently. We’re very pleased that Governments are willing to listen to the views of professionals and debate ideas for change that will create a better balanced and more sustainable housing market.
John Healey’s speech to the Fabian Society on 9 December is at http://www.fabians.org.uk/events/speeches/healey-speech-housing-after-the-crunch
CIH’s discussion paper on flexible tenure is at http://www.cih.org/policy/upl_docs/flexible%20tenure%20thinkpiece.pdf
