HOUSING TRANSFERS - WHAT A SORRY MESS

Press release
Scottish Tenants organisation In Edinburgh, Stirling, Renfrewshire and the Highlands Tenants have said NO to it That’s why we say with our new campaign
Scotland for Council Housing
On 15th February 2007 the Scottish Tenants Organisation will be meeting with invited MSPs at the Scottish Parliament to breath new life into the case for a sustainable Public Housing policy. It is clear that the current form of ‘regeneration’ ‘aint workin’. We would be interested in asking Ms R. Brankin the latest Communities minister if she will honour Malcolm Chisholm’s promise that that The Scottish Executive will support Councils where stock transfer has been rejected

“We look forward to taking up with her the points we raise in our new campaign .” [see below}

Now that the dust has settled on Mlcolm Chisholm’s departure we at the STO must look forward in the hope of achieving the degree of dialogue with new Communities Minister That has so far eluded us. Before we say our final adieu to Mr Chisholm it should be acknowledged that his departure had little to do with “his principled stance on nuclear weapons” the ostensible reason for his departure from the Communities portfolio being that he did not vote with Jack McConnell on the issue.

The principle over loyalty reason does not stand up to historical scrutiny; It is widely believed that the real unpublished reason for Malcolm Chisholm’s feigned glorious exit was a smokescreen to mask the fact that he was sacrificed due to the very public contradictory utterances from the Chair of the Glasgow Housing Association Ltd and himself over an asserted short fall in the funds of GHA Ltd and a failure to keep Michael Lennon CEO of the massive housing body to his job description. These two key names aboard the Scottish executives ‘flagship’ policy to encourage the pathological pursuit of profit and power for private developers and landlords, getting the tax payer to foot part of the bill and calling it regeneration but it was all in danger of becoming just a bit messy. Malcolm Chisholm and Michaell Lennon had to go overboard.

Despite Ms Brankin’s less than encouraging reception from leading reports in the Glasgow press the STO intends to do what we can to ensure that the new post holder like her predecessors lives in interesting and eventful times until the Scottish election and after. Encouraged by recent ballot success, we look forward to taking up with her the points we raise in our new campaign

Scottish Tenants Organisation campaign entitled ` Scotland for Council Housing`

The first shots in the latest phase of the battle over Council housing were fired at a meeting last December 9th, 2006 in Stirling, held jointly between the Scottish Tenants Organisation and local campaigners from the four Council areas where tenants have recently rejected stock transfer, namely, Edinburgh, Stirling, Renfrewshire and the Highlands.

The meeting launched a campaign entitled ` Scotland for Council Housing` which makes three basic demands on behalf of tenants. The campaign wants Council housing debt written off, direct investment for Council housing, with immediate help for the four no vote areas, and no land sell offs.

S.T.O. Convenor John Carracher stated “ The campaign has initially set it`s sights on politicians in the run up to the Hollyrood E44lections with the view of having housing further up the political agenda. We want first of all to know what financial help will be offered to Councils whose tenants have voted against privatisation and have written to Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm seeking an urgent meeting to put this question on tenants behalf”.

“We also want to know why housing debt write off is only on offer to Councils which give away their housing to a private landlord”

John said further “ The campaign will put politicians on the spot over the lack of a coherent housing strategy in Scotland given all the problems with rising numbers of homelessness, escalating housing costs and the great land give away”. “ The notion of `affordability` also needs to be defined”. “The campaign will be seeking support from tenants, Trade Unions, Councils, Political Parties and others to bring about genuine change in housing policy”

Release Ends

Editors Notes

1 Before he left as Comunities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm has stated that The Scottish Executive will support Councils where stock transfer has been rejected. Clarification is needed on what that support entails and we will be seeking a meeting with Rhona Brankin about this.

2 Housing Associations are classified by the Scottish Parliament as private landlords
( Scottish Parliament Information Centre briefing 04/70 ) They are classified similarly by the UK Treasury.

3 The government claims that the transfer of council housing to the private sector is necessary to reduce public borrowing. But as the recent Audit Scotland report `Council housing transfers` points out, debt repayment ( debt write off ) is not a cost to government-“there is no net effect ( cost or benefit) for the Exchequer or the taxpayer when the Treasury provides grant aid to allow repayment of a council`s PWLB loan debt. These are transfers within government” Debt write off can be applied to Councils, provided that time- limited constraints are added to prevent further borrowing immediately afterwards. Therefore the “official” reason for stock transfer does not apply.

4 The Scottish Tenants Organisation ( STO) is the national independent tenants`representative body. It is composed of tenants and residents associations and individual tenants, and any tenant living in Scotland can join. It was formed at the end of the First World War, out of the tenants struggles during the Glasgow Rent Strikes.

For further information about STO and/or its policies contact:

John Carracher, Convenor - 01698-281488
Jenni Marrow, Secretary - 0131-476-2359
Iain Mac Innes, Vice-Chair – 07976 718 111