The final promise of the charter for residents in social housing as set out in the Social Housing White Paper is for residents to be supported in taking their first steps to ownership.

Like much of the White Paper, the details under this section are not new but confirm previous announcements including:

* Changes to the existing shared ownership scheme and the new right to shared ownership; and

* Promising that the long-awaited and long talked about proposals for leasehold reform will be pushed forward. 

The proposals very much link to the proposals under Planning for the Future White Paper, focusing on good design and beautiful buildings. (The Grand Designs addict comes out in me here!)

It also notes that the voluntary Right to Buy pilot will be reviewed. Here at Anthony Collins, we are particularly interested to see how this moves forward having assisted the NHF in the design of the scheme and acted for many landlords involved in the pilot. Just how will the balance be struck between supporting those first steps onto homeownership as promised in the White Paper and the loss of social rented properties that are so desperately needed through any wider roll-out of the programme?

Do take a look at our full e-briefing at the White Paper available here.