Poor Take-up Of Housing Scheme (From Crewe Guardian)

Poor Take-up Of Housing Scheme

8:47am Friday 3rd July 2009

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SOUTH Cheshire MP Edward Timpson has accused the Government of undermining social opportunity.

His comment come as official figures exposed the minimal take-up in the North West of a scheme to allow social tenants to buy or part-buy their home.

Figures also reveal how the ‘Right to Buy’ is now increasingly unaffordable for council tenants in the region.

As a result, even before the credit crunch, the opportunity for tenants to buy their council flat or house has been denied to ever more people on lower incomes.

Edward Timpson, MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said: "It is disappointing that Government ministers have kicked the housing ladder away from social tenants in the North West and made it harder to realise the ambition of home ownership.

"Housing mobility has a vital role in fixing society's problems, both nationally and in Crewe and Nantwich.

"Giving people a financial stake in their home promotes greater neighbourhood pride, and helping people move up the housing ladder frees up a social property for those on the increasingly long housing waiting lists."

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