FAMILIES could be forced into “unstable and expensive private renting” as more than 100 council homes are to be sold off.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter has revealed the potential impact of government plans to sell off council housing, with new research showing that more than 60,300 council homes in London could face being sold on the private market.

The proposed scheme would force council homes worth more than a set threshold for the region to be sold once they become vacant.

The money would then be used to fund new discounts of up to £100,000 for housing association tenants taking up the Right to Buy scheme, which allows council tenants to buy out their home.

According to the charity’s estimates, Enfield could see a total of 132 homes sold off under the plans – the equivalent of 1.3 per cent of the council’s current housing stock.

Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “At a time when millions of families are struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, plans to sell off large swathes of the few genuinely affordable homes we have left is only going to make things worse.

“More and more families with barely a hope of ever affording a home of their own and who no longer have the option of social housing, will be forced into unstable and expensive private renting.

“The government needs to scrap this proposal and start helping the millions of ordinary families struggling with sky high housing costs.

“If George Osborne is serious about turning around the housing crisis, the autumn spending review is his last chance to invest in the genuinely affordable homes this country desperately needs.”

To estimate the number of council homes that would be subject to forced sales, Shelter looked at the profile of the council housing stock in each local authority and the turnover of council housing stock.