In his maiden speech, Lord Kerslake said that forcing charities to sell off their property is wrong in principle and in practice. At a subsequent event, he said it would work entirely counter to the overwhelming priority of promoting new supply.
Housing associations, which are mostly charities, provide 2.5 million homes for some 5 million people on affordable rents. Housing associations build 45,000 homes a year and would like to build 120,000, matching what private builders are able to do. Kerslake argued that this aim could be undermined by them being forced to sell off their stock.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town added:
"The NHF obviously wants to increase home ownership, but it is concerned that the right to buy will make it more difficult to tackle the housing crisis. Right to buy could make it harder for the housing associations to deliver their charitable objective, which is, of course, providing for people in greatest housing need."
Following the announcement of plans for a Right to Buy extension, many in the industry were sceptical that the number of sales could fill housing supply restrictions.
Stephen Johnson, Managing Director of Commercial Mortgages at Shawbrook Bank, said:
“We see the move to extend the Right to Buy scheme as part of a wider decline in the supply of social housing available to tenants. By encouraging tenants of Housing Associations to buy their homes, the government is increasing the reliance of remaining social tenants on availability within the private rental sector. Demand for the private rental sector is therefore the catalyst for the growth of the housing market moving forward."
Stephen Smith, Director, Legal & General Mortgage Club and Housing, went further, claiming that "the extension of the right-to-buy policy to housing association tenants will reduce the number of affordable homes available in the UK when we need a greater supply of suitable housing, not less. Forcing the sale of homes at a lower than market value will ultimately disrupt a well functioning sector and make it harder for housing associations to allocate resources and more difficult for investors to lend to them."
