A/HRC/25/54/Add.2 public land for social housing provision was one of the mechanisms in place to promote such distribution. There was also a small, but growing, homeownership sector.17 17. The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a major change in the approach to housing policy. Policies and institutions were put in place to deregulate housing finance systems, privatize council housing, and reduce public expenditure, except for tax breaks to favour individual homeownership.18 The Housing Act of 1980, aimed at “giving security of tenure”, introduced the “right to buy” as central to this new approach.19 Essentially, the Right to Buy scheme provided tenants of local councils and other bodies with the opportunity to purchase their homes at market price with a discount, ranging from 33 to 50 per cent, based on various criteria, such as length of occupancy and rent already paid. Approximately 2 million social housing dwellings were sold between 1980/81 and 2012/13, with the bulk of the sales in the 1980s. Approximately 1.8 million were local authority Right to Buy sales.20 18. In Northern Ireland, a similar initiative was the House Sales Scheme. Between 1979 and 2003, more than 100,000 properties were sold. In addition, investment in new social housing declined. Between 1983/84 and 1988/89 expenditure on new build halved in real terms. With sales exceeding new builds, the social housing stock fell by 17.3 per cent between 1987 and 1998, while home ownership increased by 34.5 per cent.21 19. Council housing stock was transferred to housing associations or registered social landlords as alternative providers for non-market housing. Since the mid-1970s, housing associations (but not local authorities) have been receiving public grants to cover a portion of the capital costs of their housing activities. Until the late 1980s, the grants typically reimbursed 80 per cent, and often up to 100 per cent, of development costs.22 20. Throughout the United Kingdom, credit for homeownership was promoted via schemes such as Mortgage Interest Relief at Source (MIRAS (1969 to 2000)), which allowed borrowers tax relief for interest payments on their mortgage.23 Credit loans for the purchase of homes became the leading housing policy tool, increasingly linking the housing and financial sectors. What lay beneath these policies was the assumption that the housing market would take care of ensuring access to adequate and affordable homeownership for all, with a supporting legal and institutional framework in place. Homeownership through either the Right to Buy scheme or MIRAS was highly subsidized by the State. 21. Homeownership and the financialization of housing had a strong impact on the role of housing in the United Kingdom, transforming it from a social good into a financial asset (A/67/286, para. 11). Some analysts argue that a system of “asset-based welfare” has taken root since the 1990s, acting as an incentive to keep prices high. At the root of this analysis is the notion that the welfare State has been transformed from a system centred on State provision into one in which the individual bears more responsibility for his or her welfare 17 Ibid. 18 Joe Doherty et al., The Changing Role of the State: Welfare Delivery in the Neoliberal Era (European 19 20 21 22 23 6 Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, 2005). See also A/67/286. See www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/51/introduction. Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Live tables on social housing sales, Table 678. Eoin Rooney and Mira Dutschke, “Case study: right to housing in Northern Ireland”, in Applying an International Human Rights Framework to State Budget Allocations: Rights and Resources (London, Routledge, forthcoming (2014)). Michael E. Stone, “Social housing in the UK and US: evolution, issues and prospects” (2003), p. 21. HM Revenue and Customs, “Regulatory Impact Assessment: withdrawal of mortgage interest relief and MIRAS”, 2000.