Labour would scrap right to buy, and give councils new borrowing freedoms and central funding in a bid to kick-start house building, the party said today.
In plans that put local authorities back at the heart of housing, Labour pledged to build a million ‘genuinely affordable’ homes over the next 10 years for social rent.
Launching a paper at the Local Government Association’s Smith Square headquarters, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to ‘immediately’ fund enough places to eliminate rough sleeping as soon as the party comes to power.
Shadow housing secretary John Healey told the launch he would halt the sell off of social housing, adding: ‘We will back councils and housing associations with new powers and new flexibilities.'
Mr Healey claimed councils had been ‘missing’ from the housing market for too long and the new plans would build capacity in authorities that had transferred stock and had no housing revenue account.
The Labour paper, which is out to consultation, vows to suspend right to buy and lift council borrowing caps.
