• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

£7.2m worth of social housing is about to be sold off in a ‘swanky hotel’

Andrea Needham by Andrea Needham
25 March 2018
in News, UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
160 12
A A
0
Home UK News
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

£7.2m worth of former social housing will be sold off at an auction in London on 26 March. Almost 1 in 10 of the lots in the Savills auction at the “swanky” Marriott Hotel are properties owned by councils or housing associations.

Going, going…

Former social housing for sale in the auction includes: two flats in Camberwell at a guide price of £865k owned by Notting Hill Housing; a £325k flat owned by Greenwich Council; and a £690k house owned by Wandsworth Council.

Few replacements are being built for social properties which are sold off. As of June 2017, the number of government-funded social homes being built had decreased by 97% since 2010. The Conservative government has prioritised the building of ‘affordable’ homes – which can be rented out at up to 80% of market value – over providing new social housing.

Right to buy

Social housing stocks are being further reduced by a huge increase in houses sold off under the right-to-buy scheme. Since the government relaunched the scheme in 2012, the number of council properties sold has quadrupled. Only around a fifth of the homes sold have been replaced. The government has paid £3.5bn in discounts to right-to-buy homebuyers since 2011/12, with the average buyer receiving over a £60,000 discount.

A recent study by Inside Housing found that 40% [paywall] of homes bought under the right-to-buy scheme are now being rented out privately. Potential landlords can find ex-council homes on a dedicated website. It currently shows 339 properties for sale in London.

Protest at the auction

Campaign group Homes for All – Axe the Act, will be protesting outside the auction on 26 March. Organiser Paul Burnham of Haringey Defend Council Housing told The Canary:

We are protesting at the auction tomorrow because it is morally wrong that homes at social rent are being sold off to the private sector when so many people are homeless in London. We are concerned and angry about the housing associations that are doing this, and at Savills as government advisers who are facilitating it.

Labour MP for Westminster Karen Buck opposes the selling-off of social homes, which affects many of her constituents. She says:

It sticks in my throat to see social housing sold off in a swanky hotel.

Labour has a policy to suspend the right-to-buy scheme and end the current ban on long-term council tenancies. The Chartered Institute of Housing has estimated that 370,000 social homes could be lost by 2020 if the current housing policy continues.

Get Involved!

– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.

– Read and support other independent media outlets:

Media Diversified, Novara Media, Corporate Watch, Red Pepper, New Internationalist, Common Space, Media Lens, Bella Caledonia, Vox Political, Evolve Politics, Real Media, Reel News, STRIKE! magazine, The Bristol Cable, The Meteor, The Skwawkbox, Salford Star, The Ferret.

Featured image via Lydia/Flickr

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

MPs try to block a groundbreaking vote for women. They lose.

Next Post

The week in satire Vol. #62

Next Post
A collection of images from the week's satirical stories

The week in satire Vol. #62

Maze Prison

A European court ruling has handed Britain a very controversial victory

sturgeon and may and catalan estelada flag

Nicola Sturgeon's SNP makes a stand for what’s right, and sticks two fingers up at the Tories

Jeremy Hunt NHS Pay Rise

The media has kept quiet about Jeremy Hunt's NHS pay rise lies. So here's the truth.

SCL Group logo

SCL and Cambridge Analytica's links with defence establishment revealed. And it's not just contracts.

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more
Horoscopes

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
DWP open source banking
Analysis

The DWP is quietly trying to get a private company to connect it to disabled people’s bank accounts

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer
Lifestyle

Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more
Horoscopes
Steve Topple

Horoscope today: your 24-hour briefing for life, love, and more

DWP open source banking
Analysis
Steve Topple

The DWP is quietly trying to get a private company to connect it to disabled people’s bank accounts

gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

ADVERTISEMENT
Analysis
Nathan Spears

Vote for the Press Photograph of the Year 2024

Image by Burkard Meyendriesch from Pixabay
Feature
Nathan Spears

Why Santiago Ways is the Leading Choice for Walking the Camino de Santiago

Environment
Nathan Spears

EU elections point to growing public desire for new policymaking approach in Brussels