article_snippet: Millions of working class families will be given the chance to buy Millions of working class families own homes under radical Tory plans to extend Margaret Thatcher's flagship housing policy.
article_snippet: Under proposals being considered by Downing Street, the right-to-buy scheme - currently restricted to families in council owned properties - will be extended to up to 2.5million housing association tenants.
article_snippet: Since right-to-buy was set up in 1980 by the Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, more than two million council houses have been sold .
article_snippet: Under a plan being championed by the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, housing association tenants will be given the right to buy housing association tenants homes at a knockdown price.
article_snippet: Since right-to-buy was set up in 1980, more than two million council houses have been sold, but current rules make it difficult for those in housing associations to buy those in housing associations homes.
article_snippet: Housing associations are non-profit making private bodies that provide low-cost social housing.
article_snippet: Regulated by the state, Housing associations receive public funding.
article_snippet: Right-to-buy rules allow most council tenants to buy most council tenants homes at a discount, but Right-to-buy rules do not apply to housing associations.
article_snippet: housing associations only qualify for limited discounts and can only buy a property that has been acquired by an association since 1997.
article_snippet: Under the new plans, housing associations will be able to use the funds from the sale of the houses to build more homes, the Sunday Times has reported.
highlights_snippet: Right-to-buy could be extended to up to 2.5m housing association tenants .
  