Andy Burnham demands Jeremy Hunt scrap the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme and end the housing benefit freeze at his Autumn Statement as Greater Manchester mayor warns of a ‘serious homelessness crisis’ this winter
Andy Burnham today demanded a scrapping of the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme and an end to the freeze on housing benefit as he warned of a ‘serious homelessness crisis’.
The Greater Manchester mayor urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to act to prevent a further surge in the number of families being evicted from their homes this winter.
Ahead of Mr Hunt’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday, the Labour politician called for the Chancellor to ‘unfreeze’ Local Housing Allowance rates.
These have been frozen since 2020 and charities have blamed this for pushing private renters into homelessness in the face of soaring rents during the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Burnham also reiterated his wish for ‘Right to Buy’ – which allows council tenants to buy their council home at a discount – to be junked as he branded it ‘one of the drivers of the housing crisis’.
But he denied he was attempting to sow further division between himself and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has only promised to review the scheme if he enters No10.
Andy Burnham demanded a scrapping of the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme and an end to the freeze on housing benefit as he warned of a ‘serious homelessness crisis’
The Greater Manchester mayor urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, pictured today with PM Rishi Sunak at a north London college, to act to prevent a further surge in the number of families being evicted from their homes this winter
Former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher first allowed council house tenants to buy their homes at a discounted rate in the 1980s (file pic)
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, ahead of Mr Hunt’s upcoming Autumn Statement, Mr Burnham said: ‘There’s one thing he really has to do. And if he doesn’t we will be staring at a very serious homelessness crisis this winter.
‘In fact, we already are. If you look at the number of families who have been made homeless through what’s called a Section 21 eviction – a no-fault eviction from private rented accommodation – it has tripled in the last couple of years and tripled since the Government froze what’s called Local Housing Allowance or housing benefit.’
He added: ‘If I have one message for the Chancellor, it’s simple: “You must unfreeze housing benefit in the Autumn Statement, otherwise you will not achieve your goal of ending rough sleeping”.’
Local Housing Allowance determines the amount of housing benefit that private renters can receive.
Shelter UK, the housing and homelessness charity, have highlighted how Local Housing Allowance is supposed to cover the cheapest 30 per cent of local private rented homes.
But while it has been frozen for more than three years, rents have soared meaning that just five per cent of advertised rents are now affordable, the charity has said.
Former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher first allowed council house tenants to buy their homes at a discounted rate in the 1980s.
The conditions of the policy have regularly changed since its introduction, but Mr Burnham called for it to be halted completely amid Britain’s current housing crisis.
‘The more that we lose those truly affordable homes from the social housing stock, the bigger the housing crisis gets,’ the Greater Manchester mayor said.
‘That’s just a reality. If you look at the effect of Right to Buy, it is one of the drivers of the housing crisis. I would defy anybody, actually, to say otherwise.
‘I’ve got a situation right now where 6,500 kids in our city region are in temporary accommodation.
‘It means they are in quite dilapidated, sometimes dangerous accommodation, miles away from the school that they go to.
‘This stores up problems in later life for those kids. It makes life a living hell for the families that are in that position.’
Mr Burnham, who has often had a strained relationship with Sir Keir, insisted he was not seeking to ‘find difference’ with Labour’s national policy on Right to Buy.
He also backed Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner’s recent vow to review the scheme if the party enters power after the general election.
Ms Rayner insisted Labour would ‘not abolish it, but make it fair’ and put a focus on replacing the social housing that is lost through Right to Buy.
‘I’m not making a point to find difference with national policy,’ Mr Burnham added.
‘All of us have got to stop this housing crisis getting worse. Jeremy Hunt has a chance to do that on Wednesday. He must take it.
‘If he doesn’t he will be putting more and more families across England into temporary accommodation this winter.’
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