The Tenure that will not Die

Picture a young couple, Jess and Sam. They have spent years diligently saving for a deposit, only to watch house prices skyrocket, far outpacing their wages. Enter shared ownership: the government's much-touted “affordable” solution. Buy a 25% stake in a flat, pay rent on the rest, and supposedly climb the property ladder step by step. It sounds reasonable—until the trap snaps shut.

Shared ownership is marketed as a lifeline for a generation locked out of home ownership. However, peel back the glossy brochures, and you'll uncover a scheme riddled with exploitation, designed not to empower tenants but to enrich developers. This isn’t housing policy—it’s wealth extraction, disguised as social benevolence.

The Illusion of Affordability

Proponents claim shared ownership bridges the gap between renting and owning. The reality? A financial quagmire. Buyers face a triple burden: exorbitant service charges, unpredictable rent hikes (often tied to inflation), and the Sisyphean task of “staircasing” to full ownership. As property values rise, purchasing additional shares becomes impossible for many, trapping them in an ever diminishing lease. Worse, if they can't keep up with rising costs, they risk losing their home altogether—a brutal eviction process akin to private renting.

Then there's the catch-22 of selling. Shared ownership properties are harder to offload, with complex rules and limited buyer pools. Many find themselves stuck in negative equity, their investment crumbling while developers walk away unscathed.

The Profit Pipeline

So why do developers and housing associations champion shared ownership? Follow the money. Under schemes like the Affordable Homes Programme, the government subsidises developers to build “affordable” housing. But here’s the trick: “affordable” is redefined to mean up to 80% of market rates—a meaningless discount in cities where prices have ballooned beyond reason.

Developers pocket the government grants, then sell a fraction of the property at inflated prices. In many cities, a 25% share of a £400,000 flat still costs £100,000—far beyond the reach of many working people. The state covers the gap, socialising the risk, while developers privatise the profit. It’s a rigged system: public funds subsidise private gain, and tenants inherit all the liabilities of home ownership with few of the rights.

A Betrayal of Social Housing

This scam exposes a deeper rot. Decades ago, councils built genuinely affordable social homes—secure, lifelong tenancies with rents tied to income. Today, shared ownership epitomises a core tenet: the state exists to underwrite corporate profits. By funnelling grants into half-baked “affordable” schemes, governments prop up a broken market rather than fix it. The result? A generation squeezed between unaffordable rents and predatory 'shared ownership', while developers laugh all the way to the bank.

The Alternative?

The solution is no mystery: build social housing. Lots of it. Publicly owned, rent-capped, and insulated from speculative greed. But that would require taxing the wealthy and confronting the developer lobby—steps this government is yet to take. Instead, they still peddle shared ownership as a placebo, a distraction from their refusal to dismantle a housing system engineered to fail all but the rich.

Jess and Sam deserve better. They deserve security, dignity, and a home that’s truly theirs—not a financial time bomb wrapped in empty promises. Shared ownership isn’t a policy. It’s a profiteering racket, and it’s time we called it out.

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