Lobby pushes social housing up the agenda

UNISON housing members joined the STUC housing lobby of the Scottish Parliament on 10 February in an attempt to push social housing in Scotland further up the political agenda.

The key message was that Scotland needs more affordable housing, built and maintained to higher standard.

This is not only good for housing but also for the economy by creating quality jobs.

Around 19,000 additional households in Scotland require housing every year and some 250,000 people languish on housing waiting lists.

The housing budget is suffering a massive cut in the Budget Bill and spending plans for the coming year.

As a number of speakers pointed out, councils and housing associations do not have the reserves to plug the gap on the funding for each new house. Therefore, they either won’t be built or housing associations will have to borrow at high cost and pass the burden onto the tenants through higher rents.

The lobby put a particular focus on the Con-Dem coalition’s cuts in Housing Benefit. This will impact on all tenants with up to 110,000 people in Scotland being forced to move house, when alternative smaller accommodation is simply not there.

There was a further concern over the quality of housing. Fuel poverty is supposed to be eliminated by 2016. However, 45% of rural households and 30% of urban ones still live in fuel poverty and rising energy bills are likely to increase those numbers.

A big energy conservation programme would help and create new jobs quickly.

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