Sell expensive council houses, ministers urge local authorities Kris Hopkins, the housing minister, said: "By selling off council houses worth millions of pounds, councils can use the money to buy or build more new affordable homes in their borough and cut housing waiting lists. London boroughs like Southwark have shown how this common sense measure will increase affordable housing in London. He added: "Housebuilding is an essential part of this government's long-term economic plan. That's why we have designed an ambitious new scheme to build affordable homes at the fastest rate for 20 years. From Monday councils, housing associations and developers will be able to bid for funding from a new scheme to encourage the building of affordable homes across Britain. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) says the initiative will see 165,000 new affordable homes built over three years from 2015. Mr Hopkins said the scheme, which including private investment will be worth £23 billion, forms an "essential part" of the Government's long-term economic plan. It is expected to result in one job opportunity for every home built. As part of the scheme councils and housing associations - known as "social landlords" - will be subjected to a new requirement to prove that they have considered whether their "very vaulable" homes should be sold off when they are vacated, with the money used to provide more families with "decent, affordable accommodation." "Some social landlords own very valuable homes in the most expensive parts of towns and cities, and they will need to demonstrate that they are using their property portfolio in the most effective way possible," DCLG said. The new guidelines come after the disclosure of a number of instances where houses valued at more than £1 million were let to social tenants while many people are struggling to get on the property ladder. A study published by the Policy Exchange think tank in 2012 found that in the South East alone almost 100,000 council homes were worth more than the average privately-owned property. It estimated that selling social housing in expensive areas could raise at least £4.5 billion a year. However, critics have warned that such a move would lead to "social cleansing," with low-paid workers gradually moved out of more expensive areas.