Tories want informed debate

In the interests of fair comment, I write to offer balance to what many thought was a somewhat jaundiced report (HT, 29 October).

We are determined to tackle homelessness. Our proposals for shared equity schemes, the recycling of the receipts of housing association right-to-buy sales, and the promotion of transferable discounts are explicitly for the purpose of increasing the turnover of social housing, liberating it for those who are without a home of their own.

Our consultations with Crisis, Shelter and others have led to our highlighting “hidden homelessness”, and we propose strategies to combat it. You quote Jim Coulter (chief executive of the National Housing Federation) selectively, failing to report that responding to our document publicly he stated:

“We welcome the commitments to deregulation and flexibility in housing association activities and will be happy to provide advice on how to convert these proposals into achievable policies.”

You also quote Merron Simpson of the Chartered Institute of Housing who did not attend the launch. A spokesman for the CIH tells me that she had not been fully briefed on our policy document when she made her remarks.

This document is a part of a wide-ranging analysis of housing and includes policy on the right to buy but stretches beyond it too.

The introduction to our policy paper states that we will shortly be publishing a second document that will deal comprehensively with supply and planning issues, tackling head on Britain's housing need.

Indeed, Jim Coulter himself has acknowledged that “we will need to assess today’s proposals within the context of Conservative plans to increase housing supply once they are published”.

We are delighted that Conservative action on housing is the cause for debate. However, that debate should be properly informed by a thorough reading of our proposals with the benefits for understanding that such study might bring.

John Hayes MP, shadow minister for housing and planning