Ministers should consider introducing a temporary ban on new tenants buying their rented homes after new figures revealed twice as many affordable homes were sold off than were built in England over the last eight years, a leading campaign group said today.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) found over 440,000 affordable homes had been sold off under the government’s 'right to buy' programme between 1999 and 2007 - while 205,123 new homes have been built during the same period.

The mass sell off of council houses at heavily discounted rates has also seen the entire stock of affordable homes in England slump by over 300,000 over the last eight years and is no longer sustainable, the Federation warned.

The overall number of social homes fell from 4.3 million homes in 1999 to 3.99 million last year.


But over the same period the number of households on waiting lists rocketed by 61%, from 1.03 million in 1999 to 1.67 million in 2007 as demand for affordable homes has soared.

The number of people on waiting lists for an affordable home is predicted to hit five million people within two years, while a wave of repossessions, and rising unemployment could further add to the crisis.

But the credit crunch has seen house building virtually grind to a halt prompting fears that there will simply not be enough social homes available to meet rocketing demand.

NHF Chief Executive David Orr said: "For those who have been able to take advantage of the big discounts available to buy their home, the right to buy policy has unquestionably been a massive success.

"But for the four million people currently stuck on waiting lists, the mass sell-off of affordable housing has deprived them – and future generations - of a home.

"We have sold off twice as many affordable homes than we have built over the last seven years and the point has come where we have to say enough is enough.

"Set against a backdrop of rocketing waiting list numbers, rising repossessions and unemployment, the country cannot afford to sell off any more affordable homes on the cheap.

"Social housing needs to be treated as a scarce resource and protected. The time has come when we must consider suspending the right to buy for all new tenants in order to ease the dire housing crisis and allow the affordable housing stock to recover."

(CD)