Home is a place where you can feel safe, bring up a family and put down roots in your community. Many people aspire to own their own home – and Conservatives have always understood and supported that aspiration.
The last Conservative government gave the tenants of council houses and flats the right to buy their home at a discounted price. As a result, over two million have been able to get a foot on the housing ladder and fulfil the dream of owning their own home. They have been able to invest in an asset which they can pass on to their children and enjoy the security and peace of mind that home ownership brings.
At this election the Conservatives are committing to go a step further.
The next Conservative government will extend the right to buy to tenants of housing association properties – who are currently unfairly denied that right.
In Medway, as many as 4,660 could benefit from this new policy.
That will mean if you are a tenant of a housing association property which you have lived in for five years or more (soon to be reduced to three years) you will gain the right to buy your home at a discounted price. You won’t need to persuade the housing association to give you permission to buy it, and they won’t be able to tell you can’t do it – you will have the right, backed up by law, to buy your own home.
The right to buy improves social mobility and builds stronger communities. It gives something back to families who have worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allows you to do up your home, change your front door, improve your garden – without having to ask anyone’s permission.
The last Labour government ran-down the right to buy. If Ed Miliband and Labour get in, they won’t give housing association tenants the right to buy. The only way this new right, and all the benefits that come with it, will be made available to housing association tenants is if David Cameron and the Conservatives get back in.
There is a big choice at this election for people in Rochester and Strood - a vote for strong leadership, a clear economic plan and a brighter, more secure future with David Cameron and the Conservatives.
Or risking the progress of the last five years with the chaos and uncertainty of Ed Miliband and the Labour Party, propped up by the Scottish Nationalists, taking us all back to the failed policies of more borrowing and higher taxes that ruined our economy before.
For tenants of housing association properties the choice is even clearer – a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for the chance to own your own home. It is an investment in a better future for you and your children.
Kind regards
Kelly Tolhurst