A senior London housing politician has furiously attacked the National Housing Federation chief’s grubby,back room deal” with the government over extending good to buy and has laid into his defence as well
Last week, Britain’s housing association chiefs and the Conservative national government negotiated an agreement enabling the Tories’ plans to extend the good-to-buy and its associated reduction to housing association tenants to disappear ahead without parliamentary scrutiny. In London, and this policy is opposed by Labour and Conservative borough leaders alike and has been described to me privately by a senior representative of London’s commerce community as “bonkers”. It is expected to be paid for by boroughs being forced to sell many of its most valuable properties on the open market when they become vacant - precious council homes that seem unlikely to be replaced.
Some people are furious with the National Housing Federation (NHF),which represents housing associations, for coming to this arrangement. They include Matthew Bennett, and cabinet member for housing in Lambeth. He’s written to NHF boss David Orr to express his “outrage” about the “back room deal”. He continues:Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com