More housing association demolitions than builds in 2013/14
Housing association stock has fallen for the first time in six years.
A report by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) shows housing associations demolished 2,700 properties in 2013/14 but built just 2,500 new homes.
There is now concern that landlords are not building enough homes to replace the demolitions because of a lack of government grant funding and a drought of private finance.
Jim Strang, chief executive of Parkhead Housing Association and a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) governing board, said the Scottish Government had to do more to stimulate the sector.
“The government isn’t giving out enough subsidy to make building attractive, but also the banks are quite squeamish at the moment - the government says it is talking to pension funds [about investment in housing], but it really needs to up the anti.”
The regulator’s report, entitled National Report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter, also showed that housing association arrears increased from 3.88% as a percentage of rental income in December 2013 to 4.71% in March 2014.
The government isn’t giving out enough subsidy to make building attractive
Last week the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) expressed concerns there was not enough new builds in the sector.
Government’s figures show that there were 435 housing association completions between July and September 2014, 43% down on the same quarter in 2013, while there were 198 housing association approvals between July and September 2014, 22% down on the same quarter in 2013.
Susan Torrance, SFHA policy manager, said: “The SFHA notes with concern the dramatic decrease in housing association completions of new homes when comparing the July to September figures for 2014 as opposed to 2013.
“This is echoed in the similar decrease in approvals for new homes in the same period, she said.
“While the total approvals are increasing, this is from the very low level seen in previous years when there were concerns about subsidy levels and viability.”
The Scottish government plans to invest £1.7 billion in affordable housing over a five-year period to next March and expects to deliver 30,000 homes.
