Call to avert "right to buy" time bomb
Housing federation wants Executive to scrap right to buy policy
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has called on First Minister Jack McConnell to scrap the right-to-buy policy for public housing to increase the amount of affordable rental accommodation.
SHFA policy co-ordinator David Bookbinder says the policy, introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s, has led to a shortage of affordable rental stock. He wants new council and housing association tenancies to be excluded from the policy.
He said: “The Scottish Executive has recently been making welcome new funds available for new housing development to improve the supply of affordable rented housing, and this upward trend will need to continue.
"But for every house being built, almost four are being lost, so we need to find additional ways of contributing to future supply. However, the Executive’s plans to extend the "Right to Buy" to huge numbers of housing association tenancies by 2012 is set to deplete the social housing stock even further and will lead to a massive increase in homelessness. It is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.”
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