UNISONActive welcomes the new Housing Bill to be introduced by the Scottish Government that will end the Right to buy for new council and housing association tenants.
Much beloved by Maggie Thatcher, the Right to buy gave council and other tenants of social housing the right to buy their council homes at considerable discounts, based on length of tenancy. Since the introduction in the early eighties, the discounts have been used by half a million Scots to purchase their homes. The results were entirely predicable. The better quality housing stock has vanished to the private sector, enriching those who could take advantage of the legislation, while waiting lists for social housing have rocketed. At March 2009 they stood at 199,554 according to Scottish Government figures.
For the Tories, the Right to buy was about the ability of tenants to meet their aspirations. The loss of public investment in housing was a price worth paying, as well as the misery inflicted on those for whom affordable housing was no longer available. The Scottish Government has recognised that investment in new public housing is vital for Scottish Communities, and is set make public expenditure available for new build council and hosing association properties.
They have also recognised that however that such investment needs to be protected. There would be little point in investing in a new generation of buildings, if those who gain the tenancies then exercise the right to buy and the stock is lost to the public sector, a point entirely missed by the Labour Party spokesperson on the issue.
Housing policy in Britain has been dominated by the profits to be made in property reflected in the property porn programmes like “Location, Location, Location” A house is no longer a home but an investment. For UNISON members on an average wage that policy never served them or their families.
UNISON has been making the case that affordable social housing is the way forward, and the need to protect that investment for future generations is simple common sense.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Government-unveils-new-plan-to.5982158.jp
