Bedford MP presses government to deliver '˜right to buy' for housing association tenants

Last Wednesday, Richard Fuller, the MP for Bedford and Kempston, led a parliamentary debate on the extension of '˜right to buy' for housing association tenants in Bedford and Kempston.

Mr Fuller urged the Minister to fulfil the government’s manifesto pledge to remove the unfairness in law that denies housing association tenants, like those of BPHA, the right to buy their home.

He said: “I called this debate in Parliament as a number of local residents have contacted me asking when they will be allowed to purchase their housing association home.

“This is a popular policy among local residents and I wanted to pass on that enthusiasm to the Housing Minister and ensure the towns of Bedford and Kempston are a priority for future pilots.”

In answering the MP, the Minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the policy stating that it is “not only about helping people who live in housing association accommodation to buy the home they live in, it is also a pro-supply policy, because it guarantees that the housing association will provide an additional home with some of the income from the sale of a property.”

The Minister added that he was pleased with the results of the initial pilot schemes and welcomed the Chancellor’s commitment to fund a larger regional pilot, which will allow about 3,000 families to buy their own home stressing that these pilots were important to test key areas of the policy.

Mr Fuller pressed the Minister to confirm Bedford as the next pilot area for the scheme, adding that the largest housing association in Bedford, Bedford Pilgrim Housing Association (BPHA) “is a strong supporter of the voluntary right to buy, because it sees the benefit in encouraging home ownership as well as the financial benefit to build more good-quality, low-cost housing that people can rent or, ultimately have the right to buy.”

The Minister agreed to pass on Richard’s enthusiasm for Bedford and Kempston to host a pilot scheme to both the Secretary of State and the Treasury.

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