Tenants will be encouraged to buy their home in government reforms which will allow people to buy an increasing stake in their house.
The social housing reforms were announced in a government green paper called A New Deal for Social Housing this morning (14 August), where plans for a new shared ownership programme were outlined, allowing tenants to buy a 1 per cent stake in their home each year.
James Brokenshire, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, said: "Providing high quality and well managed social housing is a core priority for this government.
"Regardless of whether you own your home or rent, residents deserve security, dignity and the opportunities to build a better life."
"Our green paper offers a landmark opportunity for major reform to improve fairness, quality and safety for residents living in social housing across the country," Mr Brokenshire added.
The reforms also included a plan to strengthen the powers of the social housing regulator, so it could intervene to ensure companies managing social homes are maintaining properties at a minimum standard of "decent" quality.
At the same time, the government also opened a consultation into how councils spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales, with a view to reforming the rules around reinvestment.
The green paper also outlined several plans to "speed up" the complaints process against landlords, with a view to giving tenants more support in accessing redress options.
New league tables and performance indicators will be introduced to "rebalance the landlord/tenant relationship" so bad landlords are held to account.
Plans to stimulate home ownership in the social housing sector follow a government cash allocation of £1.67bn to build 23,000 new affordable homes and social homes across the UK.
Respondents to the green paper will have until 6 November 2018 to comment on the proposals.
