BORIS Johnson will promise to boost home ownership later – as he attempts to repair relations with Tory MPs who revolted against his leadership reports the BBC.
In a speech in Lancashire, the PM is expected to say he wants to extend the right to buy to people who rent from housing associations.
He will also suggest allowing housing benefit to count towards a mortgage.
It comes after four in ten of his MPs voted against him in a confidence vote on Monday triggered by Partygate.
The worse-than-expected result followed months of criticism over parties in Downing Street during lockdown that broke Covid rules.
However, there is also unhappiness among Conservative MPs over taxation policy and a range of other issues.
The prime minister’s speech is expected to include new plans to allow people to use housing benefit payments to buy homes and make monthly mortgage payments.
Housing benefits, which help low-income or unemployed people pay their rent, costs the government around £30bn a year, a large proportion of which goes to private landlords. A person is not usually eligible for housing benefit if they have a mortgage.
Labour said the policies sounded like a “rehash” of old Conservative pledges and would show the government was “out of ideas”.
Proposals to extend the the right to buy to housing association tenants on a voluntary basis began under ex-prime minister David Cameron.
However, only pilot schemes have since been implemented, which the Conservatives pledged to extend in their 2019 election manifesto.
The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, has said any extension to the right to buy should include a guarantee that any homes sold would be replaced, a commitment the BBC has been told will be included in the government’s plans.
In a recent statement, the federation said replacing housing association stock is difficult to achieve in practice because the money generated through sales is not enough to build new social homes.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson would confirm ambitions to boost housing supplies and help more people onto the property market.
The changes to allow people to use their housing benefit to pay a mortgage are understood to be part of this, although the policy – and further details – have not been confirmed.
Responding to reports of the policy, Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, wrote on Twitter: “Let’s see the detail but there’s no way [the Treasury] will agree to allowing housing benefit to be used to pay a mortgage – huge cost implications.”
He added that broader reforms to the mortgage market would likely be needed to bring about significant increases in home ownership – such as relaxing restrictions on the amount people can borrow to buy a home.
According to extracts of Mr Johnson’s speech released by No 10, he will promise further measures “over the next few weeks” on living costs, amid 40-year high inflation driven by increases in energy costs.
He is expected to say these will target food, energy, childcare, transport and housing – although no details were given.
