Hume Occasional Paper No. 57
ISBN 1-870482-48-5
Duncan Maclennan provided a comprehensive review of the state of housing in Scotland at the end of the 20th Century. Housing investment comprises some 15% to 20% of Gross Fixed Capital Formation and is economically equally important in terms of household consumption. Maclennan argues that for too long this important area of resource allocation has been the domain of local government housing departments and the subject of strong political prejudices. The scope for improved management and improved economic allocation here is huge. One key to achieving progress in this field is to align the incentives or interests of the consumers of housing (the renters of the public housing stock) with those of the managers of that housing stock. Here housing associations are seen to be a key to unlocking the energies, knowledge and interests of the residents. While there has been a significant movement in this direction in the past decade, Maclennan sees plenty of challenges in store for the Scottish Parliament as some of the more difficult areas of housing still await improvement and regeneration.
One other theme to which Maclennan turned was the existence of Scottish Homes. With the continuing sell-off of the public housing stock to existing tenants (privatisation) and the increasing efforts being made to shift those houses that remaining in the public sector to housing associations and away from public authorities such a Scottish Homes or the local authority housing departments, there are those who ask whether there is any need for Scottish Homes to continue in existence. This is particularly true in an age when several political parties are, in theory and rhetoric at least, hostile to quangos. While declaring an interest as an outgoing Board Member, Maclennan argues that the role fulfilled by Scottish Homes in developing strategy and formulating policy in the housing sector in Scotland, would need to be done by some body, no matter what its title. The argument goes, then, that little would be achieved by abolishing Scottish Homes other than having to recreate it else.
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