Boris Johnson will set out visions for lower-paid workers in England to be able to use housing benefits to buy their homes and an extension of the right to buy for housing association tenants. The Prime Minister is expected to confirm his intentions in a major speech later today (Thursday, June 9) as he seeks to repair his fortunes after a bruising Tory revolt against his leadership.
He will hope the pledges to assist individuals onto the property ladder will please rebel MPs and voters who are facing fresh pressures from the cost-of-living crisis. Speaking in Lancashire, Mr Johnson will commit to detail “reforms to help people cut costs in every area of household expenditure” over the coming weeks.
He will argue that £30 billion in housing benefit that currently goes towards rent could help people secure and pay for mortgages, according to the Times, which first reported the plan. But the newspaper said his separate desire to give millions of tenants the ability to pay for housing association properties at discounts of up to 70% is likely to be limited to a series of pilots for now, without additional Government funding.
