[Acrylic-bob]

We are told that the transfer of the council's housing stock, some 3600 properties, is being carried out because HBC cannot afford to borrow the vast amount of money it will cost to bring them up to nationally recognised standards of repair. So the council is going to give them away FREE to a private housing association which will have, at some stage to make a profit. Which means that at some stage the rents on these properties will start to increase year on year, with the benefits going to the housing associations backers.

I have a better idea. Why not convert all the rental agreements to mortgages. The council have offered mortgages before, so this is nothing new. Then not only will you create a whole new section of property owning citizens, it also gets rid of the idea of rent as "Dead Money". With their newly acquired equity, the new home owners can sort out the repairs themselves, as and when they see fit, and to a standard that they find acceptable as opposed to the usual one size fits all approach.

With property ownership comes a care about the sort of community in which you live. thus problem estates will improve somewhat.

And the nice thing is that the council still receives the income from mortgage payments, instead of suddenly having to give up £10 million per year.

The repairs on whatever properties are empty can be easily managed and they can be maintained for social housing needs.

A win-win situation all round. What do you think??