Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 06 October 2011
06 Oct 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Housing
I am delighted to lead this debate on housing, which is my first such debate as Minister for Housing and Transport. I intend to use the debate to point out a number of challenges that face housing in Scotland; to set out the Government’s housing strategy; and to update the Parliament on the progress that we are making on delivering the strategy.
Housing has been a cause and a casualty of the global financial crisis. Unsustainable lending practices by the banks and unsustainable promotion of outright home ownership, including the right to buy, contributed to economic volatility, put households at risk and undermined our objective of sustainable economic growth. The credit crunch and lack of mortgage availability for first-time buyers not only introduced barriers to home ownership but put housing developers out of business and people out of work.
The Government has acted quickly by accelerating capital spend on affordable housing; kick-starting a new generation of council housing; expanding access to shared equity for first-time buyers; and introducing, through the Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010, new protections for home owners who are at risk of losing their homes. Although private housing construction fell, the number of social housing completions was higher than in any other Scottish parliamentary session, which kept thousands of people in work and helped to house those in need.
Following the financial crisis, we face a number of challenges. Demand for social and other forms of affordable housing remains high. First-time buyers face a tough challenge to save a deposit. Local authorities are making good progress on meeting the 2012 homelessness target, but our efforts to achieve that jointly with our partners are undermined by United Kingdom Government cuts in housing benefit. It is essential that we improve the energy efficiency of our stock if we are to meet our climate change targets and help those who have to pay large energy bills. Some people now pay more for their energy than they do for their mortgage or rent. A further challenge is that the number of households is growing every year and our population is ageing. Achieving the right mix of housing is essential if we are to meet people’s needs.
Despite the UK Government’s drastic cuts of about 36 per cent over four years to Scotland’s capital investment, our strategy is to tackle the challenges by making our funds work harder to deliver affordable housing; encouraging housing associations, developers and local authorities to work together to deliver housing that meets their communities’ needs; and making better use of the existing housing stock and improving choice and quality for households.
I believe that we are leading the way in developing new ideas. The award-winning national housing trust initiative is delivering hundreds of affordable rented homes and supporting hundreds of jobs for very little taxpayers’ money.
Housing has been a cause and a casualty of the global financial crisis. Unsustainable lending practices by the banks and unsustainable promotion of outright home ownership, including the right to buy, contributed to economic volatility, put households at risk and undermined our objective of sustainable economic growth. The credit crunch and lack of mortgage availability for first-time buyers not only introduced barriers to home ownership but put housing developers out of business and people out of work.
The Government has acted quickly by accelerating capital spend on affordable housing; kick-starting a new generation of council housing; expanding access to shared equity for first-time buyers; and introducing, through the Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010, new protections for home owners who are at risk of losing their homes. Although private housing construction fell, the number of social housing completions was higher than in any other Scottish parliamentary session, which kept thousands of people in work and helped to house those in need.
Following the financial crisis, we face a number of challenges. Demand for social and other forms of affordable housing remains high. First-time buyers face a tough challenge to save a deposit. Local authorities are making good progress on meeting the 2012 homelessness target, but our efforts to achieve that jointly with our partners are undermined by United Kingdom Government cuts in housing benefit. It is essential that we improve the energy efficiency of our stock if we are to meet our climate change targets and help those who have to pay large energy bills. Some people now pay more for their energy than they do for their mortgage or rent. A further challenge is that the number of households is growing every year and our population is ageing. Achieving the right mix of housing is essential if we are to meet people’s needs.
Despite the UK Government’s drastic cuts of about 36 per cent over four years to Scotland’s capital investment, our strategy is to tackle the challenges by making our funds work harder to deliver affordable housing; encouraging housing associations, developers and local authorities to work together to deliver housing that meets their communities’ needs; and making better use of the existing housing stock and improving choice and quality for households.
I believe that we are leading the way in developing new ideas. The award-winning national housing trust initiative is delivering hundreds of affordable rented homes and supporting hundreds of jobs for very little taxpayers’ money.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
The first item of business is a debate on motion S4M-01022, in the name of Keith Brown, on housing.09:15
The Minister for Housing and Transport (Keith Brown)
SNP
I am delighted to lead this debate on housing, which is my first such debate as Minister for Housing and Transport. I intend to use the debate to point out a...
Hugh Henry (Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister confirm his party’s manifesto pledge to deliver 6,000 homes for social rent per year? Will that target be met?
Keith Brown
SNP
As I have said previously in the Parliament, and as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has said to the Parliament and in co...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab)
Lab
Does the minister find it acceptable that the supply of social rented homes is plummeting, whereas he is talking about the broader definition of affordable h...
Keith Brown
SNP
I am not sure that I agree with the premise of the question that the supply of socially affordable houses is plummeting. I have just said that at least two t...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
Will the minister acknowledge that, although he referred to “progressive increases” in the building standards for new stock, we have not seen progressive inc...
Keith Brown
SNP
Those points were well covered yesterday in the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment. Our programme is progressive an...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Before I call Lewis Macdonald, I point out to members that we are going to be extremely generous with time. Feel free to take interventions; if you do, I wil...
Lewis Macdonald (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Your generosity is, as always, much appreciated.When John Swinney introduced the draft budget and spending review a c...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give us a suggestion for some other capital programme that should not go ahead in order to fund housing, such as the Forth road bridge?
Lewis Macdonald
Lab
If John Mason is suggesting that the Government cuts the Forth road bridge in order to fund housing, perhaps he needs to take that up with his own front benc...
The Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment (Alex Neil)
SNP
You should just have phoned me.
Lewis Macdonald
Lab
I could have phoned Mr Neil and I suspect that, if I had, I might have got a more direct answer than we have had so far in parliamentary debates. Perhaps tha...
Malcolm Chisholm
Lab
Does Lewis Macdonald agree that the situation is even worse? When he replied to me earlier, Keith Brown said that the commitment was now to build 4,000 socia...
Lewis Macdonald
Lab
That intervention goes to the nub of the argument. It is one thing to say, “We are providing funding to build new houses,” but, if the provision of that fund...
Keith Brown
SNP
Will the member give way?
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Briefly, please.
Keith Brown
SNP
First, I point out that Shelter asked for around £610 million in the budget and just over £600 million is being provided.Lewis Macdonald said that he will be...
Lewis Macdonald
Lab
It is a fair question. Indeed, I put it to ministers. If they are listening to the housing sector, they know themselves—Interruption. Publishing a manifesto ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I call Alex Johnstone to speak to and move amendment S4M-01022.2. I will be generous with you, too, Mr Johnstone, if you take interventions. 09:39
Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. In fact, the generosity that you have shown in this and previous debates indicates that the wise thing for us all to ...
Alex Neil
SNP
Will the member break the habit of a lifetime and suggest an innovative and creative measure that we are not taking?
Alex Johnstone
Con
We will get on to that. The innovation and investment fund has encouraged RSLs to do the Government’s job for it, and local authorities are now borrowing mon...
Keith Brown
SNP
On that last point, will the member acknowledge that our shared equity initiatives do exactly that by freeing up housing stock that can be used by other peop...
Alex Johnstone
Con
This is a time when we all have to find ways to make money go as far as possible, which means that some of us have to think the unthinkable. I would just lik...
Alex Neil
SNP
I need to correct the member on that point. We have made it absolutely clear that anyone who is evicted because they have been using drugs in a council or RS...
Alex Johnstone
Con
I have heard that explanation from the minister before and I am sure that he remembers that we have had this exchange before. The problem is that the practic...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
We move to the open debate. My generosity is not boundless, but it still exists. Mr MacKenzie, you have about six minutes.09:49
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
SNP
I declare an interest and ask the Parliament to note my entry in the register of members’ interests.It is a great privilege to speak in the debate, because I...