Jeremy Hardy’s view that “homes shouldn’t be viewed as investments or a source of income” rightly deserves greater debate (17 December, page 18).

But with so many housing professionals reaping rewards from the price boom, it’s unlikely to be widely acknowledged lest, horror of horrors, it gains momentum and threatens their good fortune.

What’s more, there is something arrogant in the view that existing council tenants should be denied the right to buy when so many before have reaped the rewards of this policy, however short-sighted it is. As a council tenant, I too have housing aspirations – to live close to where I work, set up home with my partner and start a family.

But social housing cannot meet even these modest desires and by exercising my right to buy and purchasing my flat I may – and it’s a big “may” – be able to achieve what most homeowners take for granted.

So, Jeremy, although ideally I would truly love to beat them – the private housing investors and ownership profiteers – don’t deny me an opportunity to join them. Your conscience may be appeased by the thought, but I doubt if other opportunities will come knocking if the ODPM revokes the right to buy.

Jon Thurlow via the Housing Today website

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Housing Today