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Indicators of progress: Definitions, data, baseline and trends information

Milestone 27: Increasing the quality and variety of homes in our most disadvantaged communities.

Indicators

This milestone is measured by a range of indicators collected by the Scottish Executive from Scottish Homes and Local Authorities. The indicators cover: type of homes; size of homes and overcrowding; tenure of homes; numbers of new homes built; housing quality and neighbourhood satisfaction.

Availability of data

Information is currently largely available at Scotland level. In future years increasing amounts of data will be available from the Scottish Household Survey at local authority level and by type of area. Some data on tenure and household type has been included in this year's report. Little information is currently available from the Social Inclusion Partnerships, but more is being collected and will be reported in the future.

Type of homes

The 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey which covers all housing types, estimated that in 1996, 24% of dwelling were terraced houses, 21% were semi-detached houses, 17% were detached houses, 23% were tenement flats and 15% were other types of flats. These figures were very similar to the results of the previous survey in 1991, as shown in the table below. The 1991 and 1996 information will contain empty dwellings.

Table 27a : Types of home (Percentage of all dwellings)

Source: Scottish House Condition Surveys 1991 and 1996

The 1999 - 2001 figures are of the proportion of households living in dwellings of various types and are not comparable with 1991 and 1996 as empty dwellings would be excluded, and sometimes more than one household occupies the same dwelling.

Table 27b : Types of home

Source: Scottish Household Survey 1999 and 2000

Since 1987 the proportions of local authority dwellings of various types have remained quite constant with around 40% of dwellings being houses, just over 50% of dwellings being flats, and the remainder being high rise flats.

Table 27c : Local Authority owned dwellings by type

Source : Housing Statistics : Scottish Executive
Note: Local Authority Dwellings only

Size of homes

The Scottish Household Survey collects information on the number of bedrooms a dwelling has. Table 27d shows that across Scotland in 2001 an estimated 51% of dwellings had one or two bedrooms, 37% had three bedrooms, while 13% had 4 or more bedrooms.

Table 27d : Number of bedrooms in a dwelling

Source : Scottish Household Survey : Scottish Executive

Estimates for 1996 from the Scottish House Condition Survey are similar, although at that time the proportion of dwellings with 4 or more bedrooms was higher (at 16%) and the proportion with 3 bedrooms was lower (at 31%).

Chart 27e : Size of Home (based on number of bedrooms)

Source : Scottish House Conditions Survey - 1996 Scottish Homes
Scottish Household Survey - 1999, 2000 Scottish Executive

Density of Occupation

The distribution of dwellings by size is, perhaps, not so important as how that distribution matches the distribution of households in terms of household size. In recent surveys a measure called the bedroom standard has been used to estimate the proportions of households living in dwellings with the number of bedrooms more, less or equal to their requirements. The table below shows estimates of the distribution of households by bedroom standard in 1996, 1999 to 2001. "Above the standard" means that the household has more bedrooms than are strictly needed to accommodate the household, taking account of the number of people in the household as well as their relationships to each other and the sex and ages of the children. The exact definition of the bedroom standard is set out in the 1996 SHCS annual report.

Table 27f : Occupation levels (percentage of all homes)

Sources : Scottish House Condition Survey : Scottish Homes; Scottish Household Survey, Scottish Executive

Table 27f shows that between 1996 and 1999, and also between 1999 and 2001, there has been a slight increase in the size of household when compared against the standard occupational need.

Tables 27g and 27h shows the proportions of households by bedroom standard for various household types.

Table 27g : The percentage of households (by type) with above or below the defined number of bedrooms for their family type. 1996

Source : Scottish House Condition Survey 1996 : Scottish Homes

The table shows that in Scotland, 21% of large family households (2 adults plus 3 or more children, or 3 or more adults and 1 or more children) do not have the expected number of bedrooms. In 13% of single parent households there are insufficient numbers of bedrooms.

Table 27h : The percentage of households (by type) with above or below the defined number of bedrooms for their family type. (2000, 2001)

Source: Scottish Household Survey ( 2000 and 2001 combined), Scottish Executive

The table 27h shows that in Scotland, 16% of large family households (2 adults plus 3 or more children, or 3 or more adults and 1 or more children) do not have the expected number of bedrooms. In 8% of single parent households there are insufficient numbers of bedrooms.

Housing Tenure

Chart 27i : Housing Tenure (End of year estimates)

Source : Housing Statistics : Scottish Executive

Chart 27i shows the trend in housing tenure over the period 1981 to 1999. The Scottish Executive has provisionally estimated that in 2000 63% of dwellings were owner occupied, 24% of dwellings were publicly rented, 7% privately rented and 6% were rented from a housing association or other social landlord. When compared to 1991 figures there has been an increase of 11 percentage points (from 52%) in the number of owner occupied dwellings, caused mainly by the reduction in publicly rented properties. Looking further back, owner occupation was as low as 36% in 1981, while the public rented sector accounted for 52% of dwellings.

Newly Built Dwellings

Chart 27j shows the number of newly built dwellings, by tenure across Scotland. The chart clearly shows that since the late 1970s, there was a steady decline in the number of public sector dwellings built each year. From around 23,000 in 1975 to virtually zero by 2000. Throughout the 1990's private sector building accounted for between 75% and 90% of the new building program. The remaining building program was taken up by Housing Associations. In 1975 the total number of new built dwellings was 34,323 of which 23,186 (68%) were public sector, 10,371 (30%) were private sector, with the remaining 2% being made up by Housing Association's. By 2000, of the estimated 23,384 newly built dwellings that year, 18,395 (79%) were private sector.

Chart 27j : Number of new built dwellings [public, HA and private stacked to show total] annual figures 1975 to 2000

Source : Scottish Executive Housing Statistics Branch

The pattern of housebuilding is quite different across Scotland. Information for the period 1999 and 2000 shows that just under one quarter of all new built houses were built in Glasgow and Edinburgh. These two Local Authority areas also accounted for just over one fifth of all new built private houses and one third of all new built Housing Association houses. Glasgow on its own accounted for one fifth of all new built Housing Association houses over this period.

The split between private and Housing Association new built houses is also different across the country. In Argyll and Bute, the number of private built new houses was similar to the number of new built Housing Association houses, whereas in Glasgow and Perth and Kinross more than twice as many new built homes were for the private sector than for the Housing Association sector. In Moray, Falkirk, Eilean Siar and East Ayrshire roughly 10 times the number of new built private sector houses were constructed compared to Housing Association houses.

Housing Quality

Baseline information on housing quality at national level is provided by the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey. This information will be updated by the next Scottish House Condition Survey to be carried out in 2002. It is expected that this information will be supplemented at local level by local housing surveys undertaken in support of local authorities' strategic housing responsibilities.

The 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) estimated that 8% of all dwellings in Scotland suffered from problems of dampness, while 21% suffered from problems of condensation. An estimated 4% of dwellings suffered from both dampness and condensation.

The 1996 SHCS also estimated that 21,000 properties were below the Tolerable Standard (compared with the estimate of 95,000 made by the 1991 SHCS). However, the amalgamation of local authorities' estimates for 1996 gave a figure of 84,000. The Scottish Executive commissioned independent research into the reasons for the divergence and the results of this research will be used to inform decisions about future methods of assessment of the problem. The amalgamation of local authority estimates in each of the three subsequent years varied between 70 and 78 thousand, though the research has indicated that these estimates are not accurate or consistent over time.

Neighbourhood Satisfaction

The Scottish Household Survey estimated that in Scotland as a whole in 2000 and 2001, 91% of adults rated their neighbourhood as very or fairly good, although satisfaction levels vary depending on tenure and the type of area. The table below shows this information by tenure and clearly shows that those people renting from the public or registered social landlords are significantly less satisfied with their neighbourhood than those people who own or rent private houses.

Table 27k : Neighbourhood satisfaction - 2000 and 2001 (Percentage)

Source: Scottish Household Survey, 2000 and 2001

Background data

Table 27m : Type of Homes: Local Authority Stock

Source : Housing Statistics : Scottish Executive
Note: Local Authority Dwellings only

Table 27n : Size of Home data - number of bedrooms in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2001

Source : Scottish House Conditions Survey - 1996 Scottish Homes
Scottish Household Survey - 1999, 2000, 2001 Scottish Executive

Table 27o : Tenure data - stock estimates

Source : Housing Statistics : Scottish Executive
Note : p - Provisional

Table 27p : New Build Data

Source : Housing Statistics : Scottish Executive

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