Scottish council housing hits lowest in 50 years
By Alice Cannet
There are less council houses for rent north of the border now than there were 50 years ago, according to a Scottish housing and homelessness charity.
In its Building Pressure report, Shelter Scotland said that there was a growing gap between the number of homes available and the number of tenants in need.
The charity found that 142,000 households were waiting for council homes to become available and blamed the shortage on the ‘right to buy’ scheme under which 135,000 homes were sold at a discount rate, over the previous decade.
Figures showed that the number of social homes available for rent had dropped to 599,000 in 2008, an 18 per cent fall since 1998 and the lowest level since 1959.
It also showed the increase in the number of people on waiting lists for social accommodation. In 2001, an average of 3.9 people were waiting for every let. In 2008, the figure was 6.6 people for every let.
Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said: “People are losing their jobs and their homes, piling pressure on a system already at breaking point. It’s a crisis that’s built up over time and can only be solved by building more homes.”
Mr Brown added: “The Scottish government’s medicine of bringing forward cash from next year’s budget is welcome but the doses of cash for housing overall are inadequate.
“Last year’s budget fell short of Shelter Scotland and other housing experts’ projection of what we need to end the housing crisis. We cannot afford to make the same mistake in 2009.”
According to Shelter Scotland, it would take almost seven years to find a house for everyone already on the housing waiting list and 17,000 people were currently in temporary housing.
Commenting on the report, Scotland’s housing and communities minister Alex Neil said: “Between 1980 and 2005 nearly 450,000 homes for social rent were sold at a discount as a result of right to buy, without being replaced by new properties. That is a shameful statistic.
“Work will start this year on more than 1,300 new council homes in Scotland, backed by £26 million from the Scottish government.”
But Jamie McGrigor, the Conservative housing spokesman, said: “Right to buy was the most significant, socially liberating policy ever introduced by any government.
“It has given thousands of Scots the opportunity to improve their standard of living and certainly does not affect the number of homes available.”
The charity’s report indicated the beginning of their campaign to get the Scottish government to build 30,000 affordable homes to rent by 2012.
