The Government has pledged to support home ownership with legislation to extend the Right to Buy and to increase the supply of homes.

A "right to build" in the Housing Bill also promises people the right to be allocated land with planning permission for them to self-build or commission a local builder to construct a home.

The new "right to build" promises to require councils to identify and release "shovel ready" plots, so that aspiring self-builders who are registered in their area do not have to wait years to get work under way.

The Right to Buy will be extended to 1.3 million housing association tenants living in England, giving them the same opportunities as council housing tenants to buy their homes at a discount.

Discounts under the Right to Buy were significantly increased in 2012, and currently stand at a maximum of £77,900 outside London and £103,900 inside the the capital.

Under the plans, the receipts from selling an owner's current property will help to build another affordable home on a "one for one" basis.

Right to Buy for housing association tenants will be supported by councils being required to sell their most expensive housing when it falls vacant.

But the plans have been controversial, with the policy being described by the National Housing Federation as "like trying to fill a bathtub with the plug taken out".

The Government has also announced plans to deliver 200,000 new starter homes, which will be sold with a 20% discount below their open market value to first-time buyers aged under 40.

The Housing Bill initially applies to England but measures could also be taken in Wales, depending on decisions made by the Welsh Government, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said.

Henry Gregg, assistant director of campaigns and communications at the National Housing Federation, said: "We are pleased to see a Housing Bill front and centre of the Queen's Speech and to see the Government committed to getting more homes built.

"Plans to identify and free up brownfield land, the right to build and starter homes are all moves in the right direction and will contribute to resolving the huge housing shortage we have. But we need to ensure these new homes are built where people need them and available at a price people can afford."

Huw Evans, director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), said: "It is important steps are taken to provide more affordable homes, which are badly needed by many people.

"However this needs to be achieved in a sustainable way, within a planning system which is robust about refusing inappropriate development in areas of flood risk and which pays proper attention to advice from the Environment Agency ."

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "I t's disappointing that a plan with the potential to actually solve the housing shortage has failed to materialise today.

"You simply can't solve an affordability crisis by selling off what little affordable housing we have left, yet that's exactly what we've seen in this speech.

"This speech should have seen the new Government take their first steps towards solving our affordability crisis, by setting out a big bold plan to finally build the affordable homes we so desperately need. Instead, we're left fighting against piecemeal policies that don't help all those currently struggling with sky-high housing costs."

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said the body is "deeply concerned" that the new measures will undermine housing associations, adding: " Housing associations fund new homes by borrowing against their existing stock, but if the Government forces them to sell homes at a discount then it will cost more to borrow and they will be able to build less."

Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, suggested that prices in the private rented sector could be pushed up further as the extension of Right to Buy is put into place.

He said that it will take time to build new affordable homes to replace the ones being sold off.

Mr Gill continued: "At the same time, tenant demand for housing will be accumulating, and this could spill over into the private rented sector, and artificially push up prices and competition for rental homes."