Tory plans to hand 1.3million housing association tenants the Right to Buy are blown apart today by a powerful group of MPs.
Ministers are accused of giving no detail of how they'll afford David Cameron's flagship policy - despite experts predicting it will cost £2billion a year.
And their 'risky' plan to fund the scheme by forcing councils to sell high-value homes could lead to a housing and financial black hole, the Public Accounts Committee said.
In a scathing report they also warned the huge rise in Right to Buy Discounts, from £30,000 in 1980 to £103,900 today, has increased the risk of fraud.
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MPs called on ministers to publish a full analysis of what the scheme will cost - along with data on rising fraud and the rate of new replacement homes.
The cross-party committee's chair, Labour MP Meg Hillier, said: "The Government should be embarrassed by the findings of this report.
"The approach to paying for this policy seems to be entirely speculative. On the basis of evidence heard by our committee, there are no costings or workings out.
"We are not talking about a ‘back of an envelope’ calculation – there is no envelope at all."
The report ratchets up pressure on Tory ministers to water down their Housing Bill after 13 defeats in the House of Lords - including five on extending the Right to Buy.
Labour's Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said the report "exposes the chaos behind these extreme plans" and called for part of the Bill to be put on hold.
He told the Mirror: "This damning report from the cross-party Public Accounts Committee exposes the chaos behind these extreme plans.
"The Government’s mass forced sale of council homes to pay for new right to buy discounts will mean the loss of thousands of affordable homes at a time when they have never been needed more.
"Many will be bought up by overseas investors and buy-to-let landlords."
The Local Government Association warned the scheme will move 100,000 more homes into private hands by 2020.
It is urging ministers to accept a House of Lords plan which would let councils keep the cash from sold-off homes to build like-for-like replacements.
Today's report also warned replacement homes could be "a different size and in a different area, and may cost more to rent".
LGA vice chair Sharon Taylor said: "This is vital to ensure the policy does not severely hamper councils from rapidly replacing the socially rented homes that people in their areas desperately need.
"Such a loss in social housing would have the unintended consequence of leading to growing waiting lists, increased homelessness and higher housing benefit spending."
The report calls on the government to:
- Publish a 'full impact assessment' later this year on how the policy will hit council finances, how the impact will vary across the country and how it will affect Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.
- Publish a full analysis before the 2016 Autumn Statement showing how the policy will be funded and outlining its risks.
- Publish figures on how many homes have been finished - not just started - to replace ones sold under Right to Buy.
- Publish new figures on how many discounts fall victim to fraud and set out plans to tackle it.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "Our voluntary agreement with housing associations will mean 1.3 million tenants will have the chance to own their own home while every home sold will be replaced with a new affordable property.
"For each higher value home sold off, it will be replaced with a new affordable property on a one-for-one basis – and two-for-one in London
"We have always been clear we will set out further information as part of this process and regulations defining higher value will be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny."