Speech in the Scottish Parliament
Housing
21 June 2007
Rhoda Grant : I am glad that we are debating housing, but I echo Johann Lamont's disappointment at the length of the debate, which has prevented many of my colleagues who wished to participate from doing so.
We need to look at that issue in the future.
I represent the Highlands and Islands, where there are a range of housing issues.
We have urban problems in Inverness, Thurso, parts of Argyll and some of the smaller towns, where houses were built to cope with incoming workers during the oil boom.
That estate needs to be updated and cared for.
In more remote areas, we have problems with the availability of land for rented and affordable housing.
Throughout the area we have a problem with housing prices, which is most extreme on the west coast and in the Cairngorms national park.
Many houses are sold as second homes, and local people cannot afford to compete with people coming from cities, who can outbid them on each occasion.
We need to protect the affordable and social rented housing sector in rural areas.
The previous Executive instigated pressured area status, and the current Executive must work with local authorities to ensure that they use that power to protect housing stock, where necessary.
We need to consider solutions from other areas.
In the Yorkshire Dales national park and on Guernsey, the housing market is restricted to those who have family ties with, have lived in or require to work in the area.
Guernsey has another market for those who want to buy second and holiday homes.
It recognises that that brings benefits, but ensures that such buyers do not compete with local people and price essential workers out of the market.
In the Highlands, people need to do several jobs, some of them seasonal, to make a living.
Those diverse incomes are not recognised by banks and building societies as a stable basis for a mortgage.
If we restricted the markets in such areas, local house prices would reflect the income of those who live and work there, which would mean that there was a level playing field.
The homestake scheme has been particularly successful in giving people on low incomes the opportunity to own their homes.
By using shared equity schemes, people can get on to the property ladder and build up equity in their property.
The scheme that operates in Edinburgh and the Lothians, which allows homestake to be used to buy houses on the open market, should be extended to other areas.
It would be particularly useful in rural areas, where it is difficult for social landlords and developers to build. I ask the Scottish Executive to commit itself to continuing and extending the scheme.
The cost of land in both rural and urban areas also prohibits house buying and building, which adds to difficulties with the availability of housing stock.
We need to consider ways of providing services that are both affordable and sustainable in those areas.
Johann Lamont made the point that the council housing estate in areas such as Highland needs modernisation.
The nationalist Executive has a moral duty to provide the funding for that, given that it campaigned against stock transfer, misleading people into believing that it meant privatisation.
The Executive has a duty to ensure that money is available for investment in Highland housing stock.
I urge the nationalists to look again at their policy of giving £2,000 grants to first-time buyers.
That will lead to an increase of £2,000 in house prices for those who can already afford to buy and will do nothing for those who are in genuine need.
The money needs to be more targeted, to allow those who need to buy a first home to do so.
It must also be targeted at families who own a small home, have had children and need, but cannot afford to move to, a bigger house.
A successful housing policy must be multifaceted and geared to meeting the needs of the whole population.
It should not be just a populist gimmick.