UNISON's
approach
Develop a new affordable housing strategy under democratic
control including a new council and social housing building
programme and effective action to eliminate fuel poverty.
Local Authorities should play a key part in the development
of sustainable communities and attempts to improve environmental
and design standards which should help lessen fuel poverty.
The so called ‘right to buy’ should be removed.
BACKGROUND & OUTLOOK
UNISON Scotland believes that council housing has a key
role to play in the provision of affordable housing as it
retains democratic accountability between tenants and their
landlords. Through their councillors, tenants can
influence the development and management of their housing.
UNISON Scotland opposes large scale stock transfers of
council housing as has happened in Glasgow and a number
of other local authorities within Scotland. These
transfers remove democratic accountability from social housing
and result not only in the disenfranchisement of local councillors
but also of their constituents.
Investment
A key issue for affordable housing is the investment required
to bring existing housing stock up to a decent standard
as well as providing funding for new housing. UNISON
Scotland supports the Scottish Housing Quality Standard
(SHQS) which aims to bring all social housing up to a reasonable
standard by 2015. However the level of investment
required is estimated at around £1billion due to backlogs
of repairs and improvement requirements. UNISON Scotland
believes that direct investment into council housing is
the quickest and cheapest method of reaching SHQS.
We are concerned that six Scottish councils have decided
to transfer all their housing stock so that SHQS could be
achieved. UNISON Scotland has a concern that while stock
transfers result in historic housing debt being written-off,
this option is not available to councils if their tenants
vote against stock transfer. UNISON Scotland believes
there should be a level playing field when it comes to affordable
housing investment, including debt write-off. Another
aspect of funding which penalises councils is the amount
awarded for new affordable housing. While councils
can access a maximum of £25,000 per unit, housing
associations can access up to £75,000 per unit.
Even then a significant amount of new affordable housing
takes place on council land, which is often sold to housing
associations at knock-down prices, or given free to help
councils’ meet the affordable housing needs of their
areas. UNISON Scotland would like councils to have
access to the same level of funds as any other social housing
provider.
UNISON Scotland would also like the treatment of public
investment to be brought into line with international standards
by adopting the European accounting conventions, the system
of national accounts and the General Government Financial
Deficit (GGFD). This would stop government’s
trying to use off balance sheet options such as PFI for
financing affordable housing.
UNISON Scotland recognises that there has been an increase
in council house building in the last couple of years, with
more built in the last year than was achieved over the last
eight years. However the overall levels are still
small and UNISON Scotland would welcome more direct investment
in council housing, including bringing forward capital grant
allocations dedicated to housing.
The ‘Right to Buy’ policy has resulted in councils
often retaining the poorer parts of their housing stock
while still being liable for the housing debt of those homes
sold off. This in itself has made it difficult for
councils to build significant new housing in the past and
has led to council housing becoming stigmatised as a housing
tenure for those on low incomes or benefits. The Scottish
Government’s proposed removal of the Right to Buy
for all new social housing is welcomed by UNISON Scotland.
We believe this should encourage councils to build more
affordable housing.
An expansion of democratically accountable council housing
with new, more environmentally friendly and better designed
housing could lead to an expansion in the social base of
its tenants and would give many more people a wider choice
for meeting their housing needs than has been the case over
the past few years.
Energy Efficiency
UNISON Scotland supported the call within the Firm
Foundations consultation paper for higher environmental
and design standards for all new housing. We believe
that such an approach would not only produce more sustainable
housing but would also lead to a reduction in heating costs
and thus lessen, over time, the problem of fuel poverty.
UNISON Scotland has campaigned for many years on the need
to tackle fuel poverty within Scotland and the setting of
new environmental and design standards could make a major
contribution to tackling this issue.
KEY QUESTIONS
How do we make a level playing field for Council Housing
- in terms of investment and debt relief an issue for politicians?
How do we make further restrictions on the ‘Right
to buy’ politically attractive?
What is the most effective way of linking fuel poverty
and environmental campaigns?
How do we ensure the that new housing is good housing?
Draft published: 5 December 2009
Current version updated: 27 January 2010
Members and branches can help to develop these
policy ideas further.
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