Scottish tenants demand inquiry into GHA

Following the resignation of Michael Lennon, chief executive of Glasgow housing association (GHA), the Scottish Tenants Organisation is seeking an independent inquiry into the setting up and management of GHA.
John Carracher, convenor of the Scottish Tenants Organisation, said: “From the very beginning, the transfer of Glasgow’s council housing stock and the subsequent re-structuring has been farce. Before the transfer ballot tenants were not given clear, understandable information, or sufficient time to understand the implications of such a huge and complicated transfer.

“Tenants were selected to sit on forums to decide the future of Glasgow’s public housing, and were confronted with complicated plans and financial projections. Tenants complained that they couldn’t understand the business plan for the proposed housing association. The pressure to ‘deliver a Yes vote’ was THE most important driver of the process, not whether tenants fully understood the consequences of their vote.” Property People

Within recent weeks it has been revealed that financial calculations for the costs of secondary stock transfer to smaller housing associations had not been included in the original business plan. When interviewed on BBC TV, Malcolm Chisholm, Minister for Communities, was unable to comment on the outcome of a demand for an additional £500 million for secondary transfer. He was also unwilling to comment on Michael Lennon’s 23 per cent salary increase award. Recently, two surveys have been carried out, one by GHA and one by Penilee LHO. The GHA survey showed that only five per cent of tenants understood the issue of secondary transfer; the Penilee survey showed that the majority of tenants didn`t see the need for secondary transfer, since they are already getting their improvements done.

Carracher said: “This transfer was flawed from the very beginning. It has become a costly gigantic game of monopoly, with handouts from the Scottish Executive. This transfer was never about tenants - the people who the Scottish Executive claim are ‘at the heart of the process’. It was always about privatisation, and multi-million pound finances, and tenants are being damaged in the process. The Scottish Tenants Organisation will be writing to Mr. Chisholm to ask for a halt to all further plans, developments and demolitions until an independent inquiry has been held. We will also be contacting all MSPs to ask for their support for this.” 18.12.06 Property People