Investing in Modernisation - An Agenda for Scotland's Housing :3

Investing in Modernisation - An Agenda for Scotland's Housing

Introduction Setting the Forward Agenda 1. The main purpose of this Green Paper is to stimulate debate about the way forward for housing policy in Scotland over the next five years and beyond. It assesses the current state of housing and housing policy and seeks views on a range of proposals for tackling the problems and issues which we face. These views will be made available to the new Parliament and Executive who will have the responsibility for determining, after 1 July, whether these proposals should be taken forward. The Importance of Housing 2. Housing is fundamental to all our lives. The quality of our individual houses, and the neighbourhoods in which they are located, have a direct and powerful influence on the quality of our lives, on the strength of our communities, and on the opportunities available to families and other households. Our health, personal security and educational and employment opportunities, and those of our families, are all closely bound up with our housing circumstances. An efficient housing system can also contribute to ensuring economic growth and prosperity.
A Modern Vision for Housing in Scotland
3. The very first step in drawing up policies and programmes for the future is to have a clear vision of the objectives of Scottish Housing policy. The Government's objectives are to ensure the provision of high quality, well designed housing which is affordable for all, is energy efficient and which supports the integration and regeneration of communities rather than dividing them.

Views are sought on this vision for housing policy.

Promoting Inclusion
4. The Government is committed to promoting social inclusion in Scotland. Since coming into office we have put in place a comprehensive programme of action to promote fairness and to provide opportunities to participate in society through work and learning. We have also taken steps to regenerate deprived communities and to help children and young people gain the skills and abilities that will protect them from social exclusion as adults. In addition, we will shortly be publishing a statement of our overarching strategy for social inclusion in Scotland, which will make sure action taken to promote social inclusion in Scotland is co-ordinated and effective.
5. Action on housing, for example through the New Housing Partnerships, has already formed a key element of our programme to promote social inclusion. The proposals and ideas set out in this Green Paper, will, if taken forward by the Parliament and Executive, take us further still in meeting our objective of an inclusive society in Scotland. In particular, the proposed strategy for promoting community ownership as set out in Chapter 3 and the priority attached to the work of Social Inclusion Partnerships, as well as policies to tackle homelessness and improve housing's contribution to care in the community, all have the potential to make a significant contribution towards this goal.

Views are sought on those housing policies and initiatives which are most crucial to promoting social inclusion.

Community Empowerment
6. The Government wants to see local communities having a much greater say in determining priorities and taking decisions about housing in their area. Community based housing associations and co-operatives in Scotland have demonstrated that such a radically different approach is possible. Many local authorities have also introduced improved arrangements for tenant consultation and participation. Our proposals for community ownership and tenant participation seek to build on these developments.

Views are sought on the most effective ways of using housing policies and programmes to foster community empowerment in Scotland.

A Modern Approach to Housing Tenure
7. The time has come to move beyond both the "municipal paternalism", which resulted in large single tenure estates with houses of the wrong type and in the wrong place, and at times an almost exclusive concern with the expansion of owner-occupation, which can lead to households being faced with costs for repair work and mortgage payments that they cannot sustain. The Government's proposals for community ownership will give tenants more control over their housing. More generally, Government policies should seek to ensure good quality and affordable housing in all tenures.

Views are sought on the need for a balanced approach to housing tenure which takes account of the need for both affoardable rented housing and a strong owner-occupied sector.

Tailoring Policies and Programmes to Meet Local Circumstances
8. There are wide variations in local circumstances in different parts of Scotland. A distinction can be made between the predominantly urban parts of Scotland, where most of the population lives, and the rural areas of Scotland; although, in practice, there can be significant differences in housing requirements and priorities both within as well as between urban and rural areas. Local authorities have a key role to play in determining local needs and priorities in consultation with other relevant interests. But there is a continuing responsibility for Government both to ensure that the policy framework is sufficiently wide-ranging to encompass the diversity in circumstances within Scotland and to back it up by a system of resource allocation which recognises both local needs and national priorities. This Green Paper therefore seeks to set out ideas for housing policies and programmes which would provide a strategic framework which can then be tailored to meet local needs and circumstances.

Views are sought on the need for housing policies which recognise the diversity of needs and resources across Scotland.

Investment in Housing
9. The analysis in Chapter 1 of this paper makes it clear that substantially more investment in housing is required if the Government's vision for housing in Scotland is to be achieved. We have provided significant additional public sector resources for housing in Scotland over the three years 1999-2002 as part of the outcome to the Comprehensive Spending Review, but it is neither possible nor appropriate for the public sector alone to provide all the necessary resources. Private owners of housing - both individual owner-occupiers and private landlords - have to take responsibility for their own properties and policies are required to help encourage this. Within the rented sector there is a need to augment the resources provided by the taxpayer with private sector funding, building on the experience of Scottish Homes and the housing association movement in Scotland since 1989. This approach to investment in housing is a key feature of our community ownership proposals.

Views are sought on the need to meet the investment requirements in Scotland by augmenting the resources provided by the taxpayer with complementary private sector funding and additional expenditure by private owners.

Key Principles
10. To achieve the vision we have for housing in Scotland and to further the key aims identified above - promoting social inclusion, encouraging community empowerment, taking a more balanced approach to housing tenure, tailoring policies to meet local circumstances and securing increased investment - requires that we break out of old style thinking and accept new ideas and ways of working. There are three over-arching principles which need to be woven throughout all policies and to apply to all levels of housing activity. These principles are: working in partnership; ensuring participation of tenants and local communities; harnessing the resources of the private sector to meet the objectives of Government.
Reference has already been made to the importance of participation and private sector funding. The need for partnership working is now also well recognised. Each partnership has to be tailored to the specific purpose in mind but, increasingly, there is a need for partnerships which bring together not only different housing agencies but also relevant bodies operating in linked policy areas such as health and employment and representatives of "users" of housing. The nature and size of partnerships will differ from place to place and from initiative to initiative, but the community planning concept whereby councils work together with the public, private and voluntary sectors to develop a common vision for their local areas provides an overall framework within which inter-agency working can take place.

Views are sought on the importance of these three key principles for developing and implementing housing policies.

The Structure of the Green Paper
11. The Green Paper contains four separate chapters: Chapter 1 contains a brief review of housing trends over the past century, assesses the current housing situation in Scotland and highlights some of the more significant factors that will need to be taken into account in the future. This is essentially a factual chapter which provides the housing context for the discussion of policy options in Chapters 2 to 4; Chapter 2 explores the wide range of housing policies and programmes which might be required to ensure good quality housing for all. It brings together a number of different ideas with the common theme of improving housing opportunities in all tenures. Many of the proposals build on initiatives which have already been taken forward over the past 18 months. The proposals also recognise the links that exist between housing policies and other key objectives of Government; Chapter 3 sets out the Government's ideas on the development of "community ownership" in Scotland through New Housing Partnerships. We consider that these ideas provide the basis for modernising and revitalising social housing across the country and, as a result, bring real benefits for tenants, local authorities and the wider community. Chapter 3 provides an overview of this radical new policy which we have launched and which we hope will be taken forward by the new Scottish Executive; Chapter 4 considers the framework that will be required to ensure that, once the new Parliament is established, housing receives the attention and priority it requires. It looks, in particular, at the future role of local authorities and Scottish Homes.