The Help to Buy housing programme has helped a minority of high earners but has done little for most private renters looking for a stable home, a new report claims.
Research by Shelter suggested that only just over 4,100 households with incomes of £30,000 or less used the scheme last year, representing fewer than 0.2% of England’s private renting households in this income bracket.
The charity said its research indicated that housing developers involved in Help to Buy had increased their profits in recent years.
Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “Help to Buy is often touted by the Government as a major success, when in truth it’s a major failure. It’s a policy that boosts the bank balances of big developers but has nothing to offer the average renter.
“The problem with the latest changes to Help to Buy is they’ll take already expensive homes and offer to spread out the costs over a longer period, which perversely ends up with the buyer paying more.
“Given there are millions of people who can barely afford to keep any kind of roof over their head, this piecemeal approach is never going to solve the housing emergency.
“At the crux of this crisis is the desperate shortage of genuinely affordable social homes. In fact, three million more social homes are needed in the coming years.
“This is where the new government should be taking decisive action, and where the greatest opportunity to help trapped renters lies.”
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