The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, is in discussions with the government about the ‘buy as you go’ scheme, in which people would pay rent on part of a property while buying an increasing equity portion at the same time.

At present, shared ownership enables homebuyers to acquire part of a property while renting the rest but they must pay a deposit and mortgage on that share, in a process similar to acquiring a home outright.

David Orr, chief executive of the NHF, said the scheme would be aimed at the ‘coping class’ who were stuck in private rentals and lacked the security of income to commit to a mortgage or save for a deposit. “This group has housing as an absolute top priority,” Mr Orr said.

The phrase echoes Theresa May’s stated intention of aiding “just managing” families who “have a job but you don’t always have job security . . . can just about manage but you worry about the cost of living”.

Social landlords are developing the first nationwide home ownership scheme to enable tenants to buy their homes without a deposit or mortgage

The NHF said it had identified 1.4m people who were ‘not served by current housing options’: on below-average salaries but not low enough to qualify for social housing, but also not earning enough to afford shared ownership or a starter home under a forthcoming government-backed home ownership programme.

Research by the Resolution Foundation issued last month found it would take a typical low to middle-income family 22 years to save for a deposit to buy their first home, up from three years in the 1990s.

To enable the scheme, the NHF is seeking more flexibility in how housing associations can use grant funding from the government. Associations hold about £44bn in capital grants from the taxpayer but these come with conditions, including rules on the tenures of homes that can be developed.

With the Autumn Statement due on November 23, the NHF has submitted proposals under which tenants would pay monthly sums equivalent to about 90pc of market rents in the local area, with the split between rent and equity payments shifting over time until the tenant eventually owned the home outright.

It has commissioned Savills, the property agents, to work through details of the scheme and potential funding structures. The NHF believes it could proceed with a limited version without government support, but would need subsidy to make it a nationwide scheme in which homebuyers could own their homes fully after 25 years.

It aims to build on the work of housing associations such as Gentoo, which ran the Genie scheme in north-east England — enabling householders to buy shares in their homes each month along with rental payments — but closed it to new buyers this year after failing to secure new investment.

The plans form part of an attempt by housing associations to reset their relationship with government after David Cameron unexpectedly cut the rents associations could charge tenants.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, October 17th, 2016