Member

I will briefly mention one more report: the UK Housing Review from the Chartered Institute of Housing. It notes the now very well-known figure that 40% of right-to-buy homes are now privately rented. That is a straight privatisation: out of public hands and affordable rent and into sky-high rents that then go to private benefit. What does this actually mean? I come back to the contrast I started with. Scotland’s earlier policy change and comparatively strong social housing completions mean that new lettings to new social tenants have fallen by only 3% there since 2014-15. By contrast, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have seen about one-quarter fewer lettings during the same period. That means that so many people are in insecure, often all too unaffordable, housing.