David Cameron has just announced that he is considering re-instituting Margaret Thatcher’s initiative of the early 80s which is to give council tenants of certain properties the right-to-buy their own home at a discount to market price.
This was, in its day, highly innovative and tenants who bought at the time (instead of paying rent to the Council) have never looked back. Now that their properties have gone up by huge amounts they effectively have a sizeable nest egg that could act as a quasi pension and also as a means by which they can help their offspring to get on to the housing ladder.
Socialists and Marxists argue that the dichotomy between rich and poor has never been greater. This is because anyone with assets over the past 25 years has become wealthier and those without them have not.
Former council tenants when they buy their own homes look after the properties carefully (far more so than they ever did as tenants) and the property that they live in becomes a sanctuary for their family as they become part of the great British property owning society.
Giving people the right to control their destiny and build a lasting nest egg for their families, particularly as pensions (both private and State) become less worthwhile, should be a Human Right and is to be encouraged.
I think this applies to certain of the more expensive properties that are under council ownership and would be better served by private ownership and not to other properties that will remain within the control of the Council.
The long and short of it is that we need to build a lot more affordable houses (as well as private ones) and any government initiative to help move this along and make it more efficient needs to be encouraged.