The Housing and Planning Act 2016: rewarding the aspiration of homeownership?

Bevan, Chris; Laurie, Emma

Abstract

In May 2016 the Housing and Planning Act 2016 became law, the first purely Conservative government intervention on housing in England since the 1990s. This article examines the Act's key provisions pertaining to social housing and the government's stated aim of increasing rates of homeownership. The Act, through the Starter Homes Scheme, extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants and changes to security of tenure in the social sector, has been heralded as a ‘landmark’ piece of legislation. This article scrutinises these policy measures and assesses their effectiveness and likely impact. It is contended that the Act exposes the government's promotion of homeownership above all other housing tenures. The article further explores the deep moralisation at the heart of the homeownership narrative and the intensification in the residualisation of social housing in England which, it is argued, is the inevitable consequence of the reforms.

Citation

Bevan, C., & Laurie, E. (2017). The Housing and Planning Act 2016: rewarding the aspiration of homeownership?. Modern Law Review, 80(4), 661-684. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12278

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 16, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 13, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 20, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2017
• Journal: Modern Law Review
• Print ISSN: 0026-7961
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2230
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 80
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 661-684
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12278
• Keywords: Starter homes; Right to buy; Housing policy; Homeownership; Social housing; Residualisation
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/872274
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12278
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bevan, C. and Laurie, E. (2017), The Housing and Planning Act 2016: Rewarding the Aspiration of Homeownership?. The Modern Law Review, 80: 661–684, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12278. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.