The gasp from the audience at this week’s housing hustings said it all. It was prompted by homelessness minister Luke Hall’s statement, in response to a question at the event held at the RIBA in London, that a reasonable share of income to spend on housing costs was 50%.

His response, when all the other parties’ representatives had said one-third, shed light on the Conservatives’ approach to affordable housing. But then homeownership, not affordability, is the key housing issue for the Tories, as a perusal of their election manifesto reveals.

In the second part of a two-party feature on the housing policy platforms of the two main parties, Housing Today focuses on homeownership, and how the Conservatives in particular are aiming to revive the homeownership dream.

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