Revival: Health of Scottish Housing (2001)

Colin Jones, Peter Robson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351753593
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

This title was first published in 2001. Inspired by the thirtieth anniversary of Shelter Scotland, this volume provides an overview of Scottish housing policies and legislation, looks back at the changes to major tenures, eviction policies and homelessness over the past thirty years and explores the potential of the new Scottish Parliament to bring about change in this important social, political and economic arena.

1 Introduction

COLIN JONES AND PETER ROBSON

 

 

The initial inspiration for this book was the thirtieth anniversary of Shelter Scotland, the Scottish Campaign for the Homeless. Shelter Scotland was set up in 1968, one year after its counterpart, south of the border. It was established in the wake of Cathy Come Home, a television play about a homeless young woman's fight to keep her children, which shocked the nation. The book partly looks back and examines the changes to the major tenures, eviction policies and homelessness, but also looks forward to the potential of the Scottish Parliament to bring about change.

Thirty years after Cathy's story of life in the slums of the 1960s, according to the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey (Scottish Homes, 1997a) a quarter of Scottish houses (a third of council housing) are affected by dampness or condensation. Many of the houses built to replace the 1960s slums are now slums themselves. The scale is such that today as many as 367,000 children and 119,000 pensioners in Scotland live in damp houses.

Scots are among the least healthy people in the European Union. Part of the reason can be traced to damp cold homes. There is also a link between poor housing and education: overcrowding affects space available for homework, homelessness can severely disrupt schooling, and damp housing can cause asthma leading to absences from school. These effects can endure for a lifetime. The health of Scotland's housing is intrinsically linked to personal well-being (see Scottish Office (1999a) for a more detailed view). This is recognised by the White Paper, “Working Together for a Healthier Scotland” which identifies good housing has having a key role in achieving health for all (Scottish Office, 1999b).

Shelter Scotland (1999) argues that there should be a new target standard set for Scottish housing which sets out minimum levels of energy efficiency and dampness to be achieved by all houses. To meet these standards and provide a decent home as a basic human need will require investment.

Some idea of the scale of the problem is given by the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey which estimates the total repair and improvement bill for the nation's housing stock is at least £7.9 billion. Just over a quarter of this bill is for council housing. The biggest repair bill is faced by homes in owner occupation reflecting its status as the majority tenure. However, on a per unit basis private rented accommodation is in worst repair with the average property requiring £4,137 of repairs in 1996.

Homelessness is the most extreme form of housing need. Recorded homelessness since the nineties has been at record high. In Chapter 2 Jones and Leishman chronicle the changes in the incidence of homelessness since the 1977 Homelessness Act first established statutory obligations on local authorities to rehouse homeless families. In the 1990s they find that there was a huge expansion of the single homeless, many of whom are not helped by the current legislation. Further Robson in Chapter 3 considers the appeals procedure of the present legislation, notes its unsatisfactory nature and argues that an alternative approach is required. In Chapter 4 Mitchell spells out the summary production line nature of the evictions process for council tenants despite the present laws giving apparent security of tenure.

With the creation of new forms of community ownership through the break up of local authority housing this could leave the position of the homeless even worse off. While currently local authorities have responsibilities to rehouse homeless people some may soon have no housing stock. This process has already begun. There is an immediate requirement for the Scottish Parliament to re-examine the homelessness legislation.

A fundamental underlying cause of the rise in homelessness is the imbalance between supply of and demand for housing, especially for single people. This problem derives from under-investment in social housing since the early 1980s, while the number of potential households has expanded and is expected to see a sharp rise over the next twenty years. Shucksmith et al (1996) argue that the consequences, poor access to affordable housing to rent in rural is particularly acute. There has been an over emphasis in policy on owner occupation in these areas.

A series of chapters assess the structural changes within and between tenures. Goodlad in Chapter 5 charts the changing role of council housing and the governance of local authorities over the last thirty years. She notes in particular the existence of social polarisation, the decline in numbers brought about by the right to buy, and the development of tenant participation, and the changing culture within local authorities. Young, in Chapter 6, discusses the parallel changing role of housing associations as the new kid on the block: their recent growth as providers of social housing, and their future potential. In Chapter 8 Spicker discusses the long term decline of the private rented accommodation and asks the question whether we should expend any more effort to save certain sub-sectors of this tenure.

Scottish Homes was established on 1 April 1989. As a national housing agency for most of its life it has pursued policy goals determined by a Conservative government. From the election of Labour in the general election of 1997 it effectively trod water awaiting the arrival of the Scottish Parliament. Robertson in Chapter 7 is highly critical of its performance to date. He argues that its future role could be confined to that of regulating social housing landlords. This is reinforced by Goodlad in Chapter 5 who wants to see the funding role of Scottish Homes transferred to local authorities as part of a new strategic role for them. In Chapter 9 Maclennan also takes up the theme of strategic housing policy, focusing on the needs of the owner occupied sector.

One issue that the Parliament will have to face is the right to buy which is not considered in detail here. The affordable housing problem in rural areas has been exacerbated by the right to buy introduced in 1980. Jones and Murie (1999) show how the long term effects of sales in Glasgow have now begun to have significant effects on letting opportunities for the better housing stock. Goodlad proposes a review of the right to buy with regard to the discount offered, while Jones and Murie (1998) argue that in particular the level of discount for flats is difficult to justify. Indeed there is an argument for excluding multi-storey flats from the right to buy because of the subsequent management and maintenance problems they create both for purchasers and social landlords.

Jones and Murie also note that the right to buy now operates in a more complex policy environment than at its inception in 1980. For example through the expansion of housing associations where tenants have different rights to council tenants in this regard. The consequence is that tenants in different parts (including locations and house types) of the social rented sector have a different range of choices, and there is a lack of neutrality or equity. There is a case for a rationalisation across the whole social rented sector of schemes designed to offer the opportunity for tenants to become owner occupiers. However, in central government there appears only a limited perspective for change: discussion on this issue in the Green Paper published by the Scottish Office (1999c) is somewhat bland, and sets out only modest possible changes. The Scottish Executive's subsequent proposals for “Modernising the Right to Buy” fall some way from a radical rethink.

More generally the Green Paper sweeps across a huge gamut of housing issues requesting views on a multitude of issues. While it provides much up to date information and context it represents only a potential agenda of housing policy options for the Scottish Parliament. For years the Westminster Parliament would only have a cursory annual debate on Scottish housing when the Housing Support Grant Order was issued, setting out subsidies to local authorities’ council housing. With the arrival of the Scottish Parliament there is the opportunity to fundamentally rethink housing priorities and policies. This book was written prior to the Scottish Executive's first draft housing legislation (Duncan Maclennan's chapter was also written prior to his appointment as a special advisor) but the policy conclusions and comments by individual author's still have an important resonance. It will need more than new legislation but also resources, an investment in Scotland's future, to ensure an adequate supply of quality homes and hence an improvement in the nation's health.

2 The Extent, Spatial Pattern and Causes of Homelessness

COLIN JONES AND CHRIS LEISHMAN

Rough sleeping has become part of the vocabulary of the 1990s as it emerged as a visual problem in our cities. But the image it portrays of single people suffering the indignity of homelessness is only one facet of the homeless problem. In the late 1960s the abiding image of homelessness was Cathy and her children in the television play Cathy come Home. Homelessness affects all types of households – single people, families and the elderly. The recent focus of the media on “cardboard city” and figures lying in shop doorways is only the tip of the iceberg. Much of it is hidden from public gaze as people attempt to cope by living with friends or making the best they can with unsuitable accommodation but all that they can find.

The chapter begins by examining what the term homelessness means and by reference to a review of the definitions considers the nature of statistics available. The core of the chapter analyses these statistics from 1979, describing the rise of homelessness and breaking down the trends identified by regions, cities, and an urban/rural split. This spatial analysis is based on the experience of the housing authorities prior to the re-organisation of local government in 1996. The chapter then considers the reasons for homelessness and the policy implications for the Scottish Parliament.

Definition of Homelessness

The concept of homelessness has been much debated. It ranges from the basic lack of any shelter, namely rooflessness to sharing with another household to living in temporary housing to living in accommodation which is unfit for human habitation. FEANSTA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless has constructed a four fold definition of homelessness:

1. people who are roofless,

2. people living in institutions because they have no other place to go,

3. people living in insecure accommodation, and

4. people living in substandard or inappropriate accommodation.

Johnson et al (1991) set out a wider typology which gives a broader view of homelessness. Their seven categories are:

1. sleeping rough,

2. moving between sleeping rough and temporary accommodation,

3. living in long term institutions,

4. living in emergency and temporary accommodation,

5. living in overcrowded or substandard dwellings,

6. living in satisfactory accommodation but in situations of severe insecurity, involuntary sharing or risks to health and safety, and

7. living in dwellings which are unsatisfactory because of the medical, income or personal circumstances in the household or inaccessibility to vital services and which, as a result prevent full use of the dwelling and make wider social participation impossible.

The typology draws out the concept of homelessness as living in severe or extreme housing circumstances. The authors further argue that households often move classification creating a circuit of homelessness. It is not an easy task to quantify the total scale of homelessness in each of these groups, or even a reduced form of the typology.

This chapter is based on a review of government statistics, local studies and a survey of the former district authorities in Scotland. Because of the paucity of information it only distinguishes between rooflessness and statutory homelessness. Statutory homelessness is defined by legislation which has drawn a line in the sand, an artificial ring fence in what is a continuum of housing circumstances from urgent and severe to satisfactory and on to superior. The ring fence identifies those who society are prepared to prioritise in the allocation of housing (Webb et al, 1994).

Availability of Statistics

The duty of local authorities to rehouse homeless people or those threatened with homelessness under the 1977 Homeless Persons Act also provides the first source of official statistics. Homelessness statistics are published annually for each of the 56 housing authorities (prior to re-organisation of local government in 1996). These statistics, which distinguish between homeless applicants, households accepted as homeless and the number in priority need, provide the primary basis for the analysis in this chapter. The legislation defines households in priority need as:

1. pregnant woman and those living with her,

2. people with dependent children,

3. the vulnerable, for example because of old age, mental illness or handicap,

4. those homeless through an emergency such as a fire or a flood.

Local housing authorities have a duty to rehouse these households if they are judged...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Extent, Spatial Pattern and Causes of Homelessness
• 3 The House of Lords and Homeless People’s Rights
• 4 Security of Tenure and Eviction Policy
• 5 Housing and Local Government
• 6 Housing Associations: the New Kid on the Block
• 7 Scottish Homes: A Legacy
• 8 The Private Rented Sector
• 9 Owner Occupation: New Patterns, Policies and Parliament
• Bibliography