More local house power urged

LOCAL authorities should be given greater freedom to decide how they allocate their housing stock, shadow housing secretary Cathy Jamieson urged yesterday.

She said that giving more power to local authorities – and encouraging flexibility in the way they manage their housing lists – would mean they would be able to address the specific needs of their communities, such as overcrowding, prioritising families with local connections, or the unemployed.

Measures suggested included allowing councils to set quotas for the proportion of their housing stock occupied by different groups of people.