Carmarthenshire first to suspend 'right to buy' council homes

Carmarthenshire County Council has become the first authority in Wales to suspend its Right to Buy scheme.
The Housing (Wales) Measure 2011 allows local authorities to apply for permission to suspend the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire locally to help tackle housing pressures. Carmarthenshire Council was the first local authority to ask the Welsh Government to suspend of Right to Buy and, today, the Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths, approved Carmarthenshire’s application.
Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr Kevin Madge, said: “We very much welcome this decision by the Minister, which will help alleviate the demand on our housing register and support our vision to make more good quality homes available for local people.
“We also welcome other measures that Welsh Government is seeking to introduce to further protect much needed affordable housing across Wales, and we are very proud that here in Carmarthenshire we are leading the way.”
Cllr Tegwen Devichand, the council’s Executive Board Member for Housing, added: “This is great news for Carmarthenshire, coming at the same time as we reach the completion of our £220million Carmarthenshire Homes Standard programme to improve homes and communities. With the support of Welsh Government, we are now looking forward to building on that standard with CHS+, which will further improve the wellbeing of our tenants through best use of new technology and renewable energy. Keeping more homes in our ownership means that more local people will benefit from this ambitious scheme.”
The Minister also announced that the Welsh Government has published a White Paper setting out its intention to end Right to Buy and Right to Acquire across Wales.
The Right to Buy and Right to Acquire allows eligible social housing tenants to buy their council or housing association home at a discount of up to £16,000.
Over the past 30 years, the policy has resulted in a significant reduction in social housing stock. Between 1981 and 2014, 138,423 council homes were sold – this is a 45% reduction in the social housing available when the policy was first introduced.
The Minister has also set out plans today to halve the current maximum discount from £16,000 to £8,000.
Lesley Griffiths said, “Many families depend on social housing for a safe, secure and affordable place to live.
“Our supply of homes is under considerable pressure and we are still seeing social rented properties being taken out of our social housing stock because of the Right to Buy, which is forcing many vulnerable people to wait longer for a home. This is why decisive action is needed to protect our social housing to make sure it is available for those who need it most.”