Around a fifth of Dacorum's population could find itself with a new landlord under plans to transfer the ownership of all the borough's council housing.
The proposals would mean the sale of 10,500 homes to a housing association, netting £140m for Dacorum Borough Council.
But the main reason for such a move would be a financial squeeze taking place in the council's housing department which means it
will have to cut millions from the budget.
Because of government regulations this can only be avoided by transferring the council's homes to a body like a housing association.
However, this can only happen if it is supported in a ballot of all tenants.
A similar ballot took place in 2004 and 93 per cent of the tenants who took part voted to stay with the council. The re-emergence of the issue could well prove controversial with tenants.
The idea of a sell-off has come from external consultant Bob Brett, who has been interim head of housing strategy at the council for the past nine months.
He said: "For me there is a stark choice: transfer to a social landlord or get the money we can spend on your home cut."
Mr Brett says the financial situation has changed since 2004 and now 36p in every pound of rent money goes to central government.
This is because housing profits are collected by the government and redistributed nationally via a complex formula.
Dacorum is one of a handful of local authorities that makes large profits from housing rents and the proportion it must give up to central government is set to increase.
A point will be reached soon when income falls below outgoings in the housing department, which means spending will have to be cut.
But if the department is handed to a housing association this can be avoided because its budget would be separate from the government.
The council's cabinet last night (Tuesday) agreed the first steps in organising a housing transfer. This is a two-year process which involves appointing a housing association, or creating a new one, which would then have to convince tenants of the merits of a switch before a ballot.
Mr Brett said nationally 80 per cent of all votes have gone in favour of a transfer.
Head of housing and community services Brian Traynor said: "We are one of only 14 councils in the Eastern region that retain housing stock."
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