Andy Burnham (still Mayor of Manchester) on social housing:
'One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right-to-buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply & quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in'!
@ChrisMayLA6 And over time 'right to buy' has spawned 'buy to let' and the expansion of the private rented sector! Even if it were to remain politically impossible to end 'right to buy' entirely in #England then the qualifying period could be lengthened and the discount reduced substantially - also there could be a power to suspend it entirely in local authority areas with a demonstrable shortage of housing - say for five years.
A limitation on house ownership to (legally recognised) 'natural persons' would be an interesting move, as it would have little discernible impact on most people, but would transform the housing market.
You'd need exceptions for Housing Associations & Councils, and need to decide how to deal with Corporate residential landlords, but it would be an interesting law to try and formulate.
@ChrisMayLA6 It sounds to me an excellent idea. It might be taken forward as part of a more general restriction of all human rights to natural persons.
Yes, when I was writing about intellectual property as an academic researcher, I used to take that line on IP too... one clear resolution to some of the problems with IPs was to limit their 'enjoyment' to natural persons....
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