Am interesting article about an interview with the housing minister who seems to be making quite an impression! I’d recommend a read.
Especially pertinent with the housing emergency declarations of GCC and Edinburgh. As a former Councillor, McLennan recognises the need to work with councils on this matter (which makes a nice change).
>“The best housing minister we’ve had for 20 years.” That is the verdict of one Scottish social housing source when asked by Inside Housing to describe Paul McLennan
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>We also wanted to know what he thinks of Inside Housing’s Build Social campaign for the UK to add 100,000 social rent homes a year.
>On that last one, it is probably no surprise that a Scottish National Party (SNP) housing minister is broadly supportive of the campaign to get Britain building more social rent homes. “The first minister said it’s a key strategic objective for the Scottish government to deliver on our target [of] 110,000 [affordable] houses by 2032,” Mr McLennan tells Inside Housing.
>And the Scottish government has promised that 70% of those affordable homes will be for social rent.
~
>Yet getting to that target is looking harder than ever, with inflation driving up the cost of building in Scotland as it is in the rest of the UK, and indeed, internationally. These headwinds pose an almighty challenge for the Scottish government’s 110,000 affordable homes target.
~
>We ask if Mr McLennan would recommit to the SNP’s target that 70% of its 110,000 new affordable homes will be for social rent.
>“Yeah, I think there are a couple of things,” he replies. “We’ve had to move [social rent benchmarks] out of the way” on certain schemes, he admits, because of construction inflation. He also points out that mid-market rent has its place in helping to increase viability for developers. Caveats aside, he says: “We need to focus on making sure that 70% in terms of social housing is delivered. That’s a minimum. I want to deliver beyond that. So let’s look at how we bring in additional monies to make sure we deliver beyond that.”
>“If you invest in housing, it’s a build-to-save,” he says – because of the money that is saved on homelessness and other services.
I love that post-Thatcher UK appears to finally be rediscovering what the rest of the human race has known for aeons. If you own hardware that saves you money, you probably wanna hold on to it.
Prevention is better than cure, maintenance is easier than repair, owning is cheaper than renting. Etc etc. This guy seems to have his head screwed on right, and good for him for making a difference. But as a nation, we seem very keen on learning this stuff the hard way…
I don’t believe there is one aspect of the current housing crisis which can’t be solved by mass building of social housing across the country. It also helps with job creation, teaching skills and developing new technologies and techniques.
3 comments
Am interesting article about an interview with the housing minister who seems to be making quite an impression! I’d recommend a read.
Especially pertinent with the housing emergency declarations of GCC and Edinburgh. As a former Councillor, McLennan recognises the need to work with councils on this matter (which makes a nice change).
>“The best housing minister we’ve had for 20 years.” That is the verdict of one Scottish social housing source when asked by Inside Housing to describe Paul McLennan
~
>We also wanted to know what he thinks of Inside Housing’s Build Social campaign for the UK to add 100,000 social rent homes a year.
>On that last one, it is probably no surprise that a Scottish National Party (SNP) housing minister is broadly supportive of the campaign to get Britain building more social rent homes. “The first minister said it’s a key strategic objective for the Scottish government to deliver on our target [of] 110,000 [affordable] houses by 2032,” Mr McLennan tells Inside Housing.
>And the Scottish government has promised that 70% of those affordable homes will be for social rent.
~
>Yet getting to that target is looking harder than ever, with inflation driving up the cost of building in Scotland as it is in the rest of the UK, and indeed, internationally. These headwinds pose an almighty challenge for the Scottish government’s 110,000 affordable homes target.
~
>We ask if Mr McLennan would recommit to the SNP’s target that 70% of its 110,000 new affordable homes will be for social rent.
>“Yeah, I think there are a couple of things,” he replies. “We’ve had to move [social rent benchmarks] out of the way” on certain schemes, he admits, because of construction inflation. He also points out that mid-market rent has its place in helping to increase viability for developers. Caveats aside, he says: “We need to focus on making sure that 70% in terms of social housing is delivered. That’s a minimum. I want to deliver beyond that. So let’s look at how we bring in additional monies to make sure we deliver beyond that.”
>“If you invest in housing, it’s a build-to-save,” he says – because of the money that is saved on homelessness and other services.
I love that post-Thatcher UK appears to finally be rediscovering what the rest of the human race has known for aeons. If you own hardware that saves you money, you probably wanna hold on to it.
Prevention is better than cure, maintenance is easier than repair, owning is cheaper than renting. Etc etc. This guy seems to have his head screwed on right, and good for him for making a difference. But as a nation, we seem very keen on learning this stuff the hard way…
I don’t believe there is one aspect of the current housing crisis which can’t be solved by mass building of social housing across the country. It also helps with job creation, teaching skills and developing new technologies and techniques.