Governments, Home Ownership and Low-Cost Home Ownership Initiatives

Widening the spectrum of households who can enter home ownership has been a long-established policy in the UK. This article explores low-cost home ownership initiatives from the late 1970s onwards and in the context of home ownership more generally. Over the decades, government support for home ownership has shifted from making tax concessions to households and providing building subsides for local authorities, to a centrally driven housing programme focussed around a myriad of part-rent part-own and equity sharing schemes alongside the Right to Buy. The Labour government now faces difficult decisions regarding housing priorities, not least given budget constraints. While its focus will understandably be on providing more social rented homes, there is still a need to assist meeting aspirations around home ownership which have been much eroded in recent years. Both need to be supported with a close eye on cost and impact.