Mev Brown: Homing in on property problems

Published on Friday 31 December 2010 11:49

The Scottish Parliamentary elections are just five months away.

So, in the New Year, we can look forward to the usual demands from various charities calling for somebody to do something about our housing problem.

Housing has never been a priority for politicians. Few understand why.

Under the last Labour government housing waiting lists rose from one million families in 1997 to nearly two million today. That is around five million people.

Nationally, this figure can only increase with the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition's cut on the social housing budget of 50 per cent.

In a country where the right to free healthcare at the point of delivery is considered sacrosanct it is puzzling that having your own door keys is not.

While there are a multitude of factors affecting housing, here are a few key points. Firstly, more and more people are living alone. According to official statistics, around 40 per cent of people over 30 now live alone. This trend puts a massive strain on the housing stock to simply accommodate a static population.

One issue that David Cameron has indicated he will address is the financial incentives within the benefits system that encourages couples to live apart, although an announcement has still to be made regarding any policy initiatives on this.

Secondly, immigration has put considerable strain on the housing stock, with around two million people having arrived in the UK since 2004.

The Conservative-Lib Dem coalition has set the future construction rate of social housing at around the current level of non-EU immigration.

With no restrictions on EU immigration, the UK's population is expected to grow by a further 10 million by 2027, which will only exacerbate the pressure on housing.

Thirdly, most councils are still saddled with enormous debts from Thatcher's "right to buy" policy. It was very popular at the time, but for the vast majority of councils, the sale price did not cover the cost of construction.

This left councils saddled with huge debts. In the case of Edinburgh, the debt is some 300 million.

Economic inactivity is the fourth crucial factor. Today one in six households is now economically inactive.

Around 70 per cent of council tenants claim housing benefits. What this means, in simple economic terms, is that in effect each newly-built public sector home adds to the national debt.

Fifth is student debt. New graduates now account for around half of those entering the jobs market each year.Even before the current economic crisis and changes to student funding, new graduates were saddled with heavy debts on leaving university.

This combination of personal debt, high house prices together with the lack of savings and available credit is freezing many first-time buyers out of the housing market.

However it is viewed, the limited ability to pay for housing will become an increasingly important factor in today's housing crisis.

The sixth factor is demolition. There is no reason why a well-built house will not last 100, or even 200 years. But in Edinburgh over the last ten years, around 10,000 homes have been demolished.

A percentage of this will be poor quality housing, which in itself should be an issue, but my real fear is that much of this is the result of neglect, vandalism or damage.

In the Housing Accounts for 2008/9, Edinburgh City Council detailed 26m for repairs and maintenance, plus a further 63m for "depreciation and impairment of fixed assets".

I might not be an accountant, but since when did housing "depreciate" in value in the Capital?

And what, exactly, is "impairment of fixed assets"? Is this how vandalism is sugar-coated?

So, returning to the inevitable calls for somebody to do something about housing, I suspect these calls will be falling on deaf ears, again.

Is there a "Scottish solution" to the housing problem? Of course, but for the main parties, it would mean thinking the unthinkable.

Mev Brown works with the homeless in Edinburgh and is an independent candidate for the Scottish Parliament

MOVING IN TO ABANDONED HOUSES

A SCHEME has been launched to bring some of Scotland's 50,000 empty homes back into use.

The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership is being introduced to help local authorities make use of vacated properties from the private sector.

The two-year project, funded by the Scottish Government, relies on the public to report the address of a suspected empty home. A website - www.reportemptyhomes.com - goes live today and allows people to enter postcodes for any unused houses. The information will then be fed back to the council responsible for that area.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, the charity co-ordinating the project, said: "Bringing empty homes back in to use contributes to society positively on a number of levels, in particular through housing supply, local regeneration, supporting rural communities and community safety."