Drive to increase home ownership

Does everyone want to own their own home?

People could be helped buy homes by measures including tax breaks for low income households, a report says.

Proposals suggested by a government commissioned study include simplifying the "complicated" range of low cost home buying schemes.

And the government should work with lenders to reduce mortgage costs, it said.

But helping people buy should not be at the expense of those needing social rented housing, said the Home Ownership Task Force report.

The Task Force did not work on the assumption that increasing the level of home ownership is necessarily beneficial Home Ownership Task Force report

Social housing regulator the Housing Corporation published the report.

The report said: "The Task Force did not work on the assumption that increasing the level of home ownership is necessarily beneficial".

Electoral success

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who commissioned the report, said some of the recommendations would be put forward immediately in the new Housing Bill, while others would be considered in the New Year.

Former Labour minister Alan Milburn said the government needed to widen home ownership in order to "redistribute opportunity", if it wanted to maintain electoral success.

Writing in the Guardian, he said there was increasing inequality between those who owned shares, pensions and housing, and those who relied solely on wages and benefits.

A shortage of housing and rising prices in some areas - particularly London and the South East - are already being tackled in a number of ways via the government's sustainable communities plan.

The group put forward 45 recommendations for the government to consider.

The Housing Corporation proposed launching a new 'sustainable home ownership programme', which would offer discounts, equity loans and shared ownership schemes.

The aim is to make the current system, which includes a range of different schemes to help low to moderate earners, more simplified.

Task Force chairwoman and Labour peer Baroness Dean said: "While a home of your own is not the aspiration of everyone, many people wanting a foot on the property ladder say they are daunted by the sheer volume of scheme and information currently available."

Sharia law

It was suggested a form of equity loan would eventually be offered as an alternative to the current Right to Buy for council tenants.

The task force also proposed councils and housing associations would have the right to buy back properties they had sold, so they would not be lost to the open market.

A new housing tax credit could help low income earners, regardless of whether they rented privately, socially, or already owned a house.

They also said work was needed to improve access to low cost home ownership schemes for the Muslim community, which uses home finance schemes specifically tailored for Sharia law.