The council leader has accused the government for failing to tackle Oldham's housing crisis amid new plans to extend the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme.

The plans to extend RTB will allow millions of tenants renting their homes from housing associations to purchase their property outright.

But Oldham Council leader Amanda Chadderton has said the plan fails to make any real difference to the thousands of Oldhamers currently living in overcrowded or unfit homes, or who have no home at all.

The labour-run council has cited a 2021 report which evaluated pilots of RTB and found that housing associations were unable to replace the homes it had sold.

The report also revealed the costs involved with the government spending an average £65,390 subsidising the sale of each house.

Cllr Chadderton said: “Extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants does nothing to help people in housing need in Oldham.

“More than that, it makes matters worse as only one-tenth of the homes sold under the Right to Buy have been replaced.”

According to Cllr Chadderton, the national roll-out of the extension would cost £14.6bn over the next decade which she argues would be better spent on building new social homes.

She has called on the government to provide a subsidy from Homes England to help Oldham provide the homes that people need.

Ms Chadderton added: “To provide the 6,000 homes for families on the Housing Register we need Homes England and the Government to step up”.

Ms Chadderton did say that the government’s proposals in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill would help the council to provide more homes and build them more quickly but reiterated that she “can’t see anything there that will deliver truly affordable homes in Oldham”.

The Oldham Times: Oldham councillor, Amanda Chadderton, has criticised the plans.Oldham councillor, Amanda Chadderton, has criticised the plans.

She added: “The barrier isn’t the planning system, but funding for new homes.

“Receipts from Right to Buy have never covered rebuild costs for new homes and this is even more difficult in a low price area like Oldham.”

Among her concerns are the government's plans to "turn benefits into bricks" by changing welfare rules.

What this means is that people who are in work and who are in receipt of housing benefit can use their benefit towards a mortgage instead of going to private landlords and housing associations.

The government will also create an exemption for Universal Credit claimants who are saving for a deposit.

The current rules dictate welfare support tapers off when claimants accumulate £6,000 in their savings account - and is stopped entirely when savings reach £16,000.

But in a bid to encourage claimants to save, savings in Lifetime ISA accounts will no longer jeopardise UC payments.

Cllr Chadderton said: “I’m really concerned that the government comes up with gimmicks like tweaking benefits to count as income for mortgages rather than focusing on the real issues.

“To quote a previous Oldham MP, ‘give us the tools and we’ll finish the job’.”

The National Housing Federation (NHF) which represents housing associations has echoed similar concerns about housing supply and replacing homes that have been sold.

NHF chief executive, Kate Henderson said “our red line” for participation in the pilot hinged upon “every single social home sold would be replaced”.

Ms Henderson said: “Recent pilots have demonstrated how difficult this is to achieve, as there is not enough money from sales to build new social homes”.

In his speech outlining the plans, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “For four decades it has been possible for council home tenants to use a discount to buy the property they live in.

“Over that time almost 2m people have been helped into home ownership.

“They have switched identities and psychology, from being dependent on the state for every repair – from damp-proofing to a new front door – to being in charge of their own family home, able to make improvements and add value as they please”.

The government also plans to make it easier to get a mortgage for first-time buyers by widening access to low-cost, low-deposit finance such as 95 per cent mortgages.

The PM highlighted the "ludicrous situation" in which young people could afford monthly mortgage payments but are priced out by inflated deposit rules and a "continually moving target".