Housing associations, charities and councils have united in celebration of the end of a policy that saw Scotland's lose half a million council houses
Housing bodies are celebrating the formal end of the Tory Right to Buy policy that has decimated Scotland’s social housing stock since the 1980s.
Leaders from the social housing sector including the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) and Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), alongside homeless charity Shelter, have welcomed the end of the policy in Scotland on 1 August, saying its demise has come “not a moment too soon”.
Housing bodies have long campaigned for the policy to be curbed or ended in order to preserve much needed council and housing association homes for rent.
More than half a million social homes were sold off under right-to-buy in Scotland. For every three homes sold only one was built in replacement – so no wonder we have a housing crisis in Scotland
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland
Mary Taylor, SFHA chief executive, said: “We are delighted that all forms of the right to buy policy in Scotland have now come to an end and this hasn’t come a moment too soon. Right to buy has had its day and has no place in modern Scotland.
“Although particular individuals have benefitted from the right to buy and at significant discounts, the sales have been at a loss to the greater public good.
“Half a million social rented homes have been lost over the three decades of this policy in Scotland, and very often the better stock in the more popular areas.”
The Right to Buy policy was introduced in the 1980s by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It gave council tenants the right to buy their homes with dramatic discounts on the marekt value of the properties.
It proved hugely popular with council tenants across the UK, and 450,000 homes were sold through the scheme in Scotland upto 2013.
However, because of restrictions on councils’ abilities to use the money made from the sales to build new council homes, it also left a black hole in Scotland’s housing stock. Campaigners now say 50,000 new homes need to be build immediately to meet demands for affordable homes in Scotland.
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “It is good news that right-to-buy has finally had its day in Scotland. It has no place in Scotland’s housing system today.
“More than half a million social homes were sold off under right-to-buy in Scotland. For every three homes sold only one was built in replacement – so no wonder we have a housing crisis in Scotland.
“Now that right-to-buy is consigned to history – and with a waiting list of 150,000 for a council house – what Scotland desperately needs now is a step change in the delivery of affordable housing.
“We need to build at least 12,000 new affordable homes a year to meaningfully tackle Scotland’s housing crisis. We also need a new national homelessness strategy to get to grips with the root causes of homelessness.”
Tony Cain, policy manager at ALACHO, said the move will allow social landlords to focus on longer-term planning, better management of existing properties and investment in new homes.
He added: “That means more long-term jobs and apprenticeships to maintain our homes and more households taken out of housing need and living in warm, dry and genuinely affordable housing”.
