Meeting of the Parliament 13 November 2024
Scottish Greens believe that access to safe, warm and affordable housing is a fundamental human right that is essential to our health, happiness and ability to fulfil our potential as human beings. That is why the new deal for tenants was a key priority for us in this parliamentary session, and it is why, under the Bute house agreement, Patrick Harvie introduced the Housing (Scotland) Bill earlier this year.
That basic, fundamental right—a place to call home—is far from being realised by far too many Scots. The briefings that we have received for today’s debate paint a stark picture of a 143 per cent increase in the number of children stuck in temporary accommodation in 10 years, with more than 10,000 children without a permanent home; gender inequality baked into the system, leaving women exposed to additional and avoidable harm; and minoritised ethnic communities spending, on average, longer stuck in temporary accommodation. Scotland also has the UK’s largest disparity between renting and owning, with homeowners paying over 30 per cent less a year than renters.
To focus on that last point, we must use the legislation to strengthen tenants’ rights, making housing more affordable for them. That is why rent controls in the private rented sector are vital and must deliver genuine affordability, not just predictability or stabilisation. Rent stabilisation will not protect tenants if it locks them into ever-increasing costs.
Rent controls are normal. Across Europe, they are used to prioritise tenant security, although the mechanisms vary considerably. Rent regulations in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and elsewhere ensure that increases reflect the quality of housing, the environmental considerations and local affordability standards. They prioritise security of tenure, preventing market volatility from dictating excessive rent rises.
Elsewhere, rent freezes and rent reductions are used to tackle unaffordable rents. The recent Scottish Government rent control proposal, which is set at the consumer prices index plus 1 per cent, up to a maximum of 6 per cent, will not enable those mechanisms in Scotland. It will not adequately tackle the unaffordable housing costs in our country. It shows limited ambition, favouring landlord protections and certainty over those of tenants. It is also misaligned with the urgency of Scotland’s housing emergency.
The policy’s gradualism contradicts the stated ambition of eradicating poverty, particularly child poverty. Rising housing costs are one of the main factors exacerbating poverty, and, without stricter controls, we risk failing to alleviate that burden. Housing costs are, of course, closely linked to broader economic contexts such as interest rates and broader inflationary trends that drive demand. Effective tenant protections would address those broader pressures by insulating tenants from market fluctuations instead of placing the burden on them to absorb costs.
International practices highlight that capping rent independently of inflation rates and wage growth considerations through rent controls allows tenants more stability for financial planning and more security. The goal of rent controls is genuine affordability, not simply predictability. Our vision for rent controls includes the ability to reduce rents, not just to limit future increases. It includes the possibility of freezing rents, as we did earlier in this parliamentary session through emergency legislation to support tenants during the cost of living crisis.
We believe that rent controls must be attached to the property, not the lease, so that the cost is never a barrier to tenants who are leaving a home and so that new tenants are not hit by sharp increases. The costs must also be linked to quality in order to drive improvements in our housing stock. Therefore, we must not water down the Housing (Scotland) Bill and lock in above-inflation rent rises. I urge colleagues across the chamber to support the amendment in my name.
I move amendment S6M-15401.1, to leave out from “redraft” to end and insert:
“not amend the Housing (Scotland) Bill to weaken the proposed system of rent controls, which must be able to keep rent increases below inflation if they are to improve affordability and allow for rent freezes during a housing emergency.”
16:20Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.