House building

Private and rented housing plans for Scotland

Stephen Richard — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 09:59:00 +0000

Private and rented housing plans for Scotland Stephen Richard Thu, 10/28/2021 - 10:59

Author or Creator

Common Weal

― Scotland’s housing market should offer people a quality public rental option, whether for young professionals not ready to enter the mortgage market, lower income renters who have few good rental options or families at any point on the income scale who simply don’t want their lives dictated by mortgages. Public policy should also seek to constrain house price rises but also drive up the highest possible thermal performance for new build houses.

― Scotland also needs forms of stimulus after the Covid lockdown and public rental house building linked to an industrial strategy to create many more domestic supply chains can create that stimulus.

― There is a financing model which means this can be achieved at unlimited
scale without public subsidy, involving three steps:

Use ‘Land Value Capture’. At the moment the public buys land and pays
for it as if planning permission had already been granted – but planning
permission is a value added by the public sector and the public sector
can capture that value rather than give it away by buying land only at
its current use value and not its later value with planning permission.
Then borrow from the Scottish National Investment Bank over
mortgage-style periods of time (30 years) and spread the cost of the
borrowing over that period so that rents are low.
Finally, build in a proper maintenance budget so these remain high-
quality houses in perpetuity. It is also possible to sell off a limited
number of plots (for self build) and a small proportion of the houses.
This can give the public developers some additional budget to include
extra public infrastructure in new developments.

― To achieve this the Scottish National Investment Bank should be given
immediate dispensation to operate as a proper bank and local authorities
should open ‘lists’ for families who want to live in one of these houses.
Supply can then be allowed to meet demand.

Rents

Initial rents should be set against a points system to reflect the value of the property. Rent increases be capped at a rent affordability index to ensure increases do not push tenants into hardship. A move towards indefinite tenancies as default, away from short-term contracts. Ensure that all tenants are entitled to a hardship defence in relation to evictions. Create a Scottish Living Rent Commission, to oversee these recommendations and to serve as a centre of expertise for the Scottish Private Rental Sector.

Rents in Scotland are increasing faster than many tenants can afford, and many are being forced into poverty by these increases. Women are particularly hard-hit by high rents due to a gender pay gap of almost 18%. PRS tenants are disproportionately young, non-white and non-British, meaning there is a crucial equalities aspect to making the PRS fairer. High rents, insecure tenancies and poor quality housing have an enormous public cost; directly through housing benefit and discretionary housing payments; and indirectly through the costs associated with homelessness and the health impacts of damp and cold housing. Scotland’s tenants are amongst the least secure in Europe.

In order to bring rents under control and to give tenants security of tenure, we propose the following changes: That initial rents be set against a points system to reflect the value of the property That rent increases be capped at a rent affordability index to ensure increases do not push tenants into hardship A move towards indefinite tenancies as default, away from short-term contracts Ensuring that all tenants are entitled to a hardship defence in relation to evictions The creation of a Scottish Living Rent Commission, to oversee these recommendations and to serve as a centre of expertise for the Scottish Private Rental Sector

Keywords

House building policy of Scottish Government

Stephen Richard — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 06:22:47 +0000

House building policy of Scottish Government Stephen Richard Sat, 10/23/2021 - 07:22

Author or Creator

Stephen Richard

By the 1st quarter of 2021 house prices were rising faster than the rest of the UK. This might be resulting from low supply with high demand. Whether the trend will continue after independence will be dependent on the relation of supply to demand. The Scottish government committed to building an average of 10,000 affordable homes over 10 years, but this is below the demand levels, which might indicate continuing price increases.

Keywords

Housing

House building

House prices

Housing 2040 Consultation Response

Stephen Richard — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 08:19:19 +0000

Housing 2040 Consultation Response

Primary Author or Creator

Malcolm Fraser

Stephen Richard Tue, 09/07/2021 - 09:19

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Fraser/Livingstone Architects, Common Weal, Scotland’s Town Partnership

Renew: Six policies that can refresh the Scottish Government’s domestic agenda

Stephen Richard — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 09:26:21 +0000

Renew: Six policies that can refresh the Scottish Government’s domestic agenda

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Sat, 09/04/2021 - 10:26

Date Published

Fri, 05/26/2017 - 12:00

Public Land Value Capture: A new model for housing development in Scotland

Stephen Richard — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 17:39:39 +0000

Public Land Value Capture: A new model for housing development in Scotland

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Wed, 08/18/2021 - 18:39

Alternative Published Date

Feburary 2018