Latest news with #MàiriMcAllan
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Scotsman
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
Visit to Edinburgh's West Granton Housing Co-operative marks launch of new £4m fund to prevent homelessness
Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan has visited Edinburgh's West Granton Housing Co-operative to launch a new £4 million fund for pilot projects in preventing homelessness. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Scottish Government's Housing Bill, currently going through the Scottish Parliament, includes a new 'ask and act' duty, which will require bodies such as health boards, the police and prison service to routinely ask individuals about their housing situation to identify anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homelessness, and then take action to prevent it. The new fund announced by Ms McAllan will support organisations to pilot 'ask and act' measures. Larke Adger, chief executive of West Granton Housing Co-operative (left) and David Mills, chief operating officer (right) with Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan. | supplied Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad During her visit to West Granton, she also found out more about the housing co-operative's 'Get Settled' project which supports 400 households who are homeless, or facing homelessness, across Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian and Fife. Ms McAllan said: 'We are determined to end homelessness – and the best way to do this is to prevent homelessness in the first place. This investment in prevention pilots will help us test and scale up innovative approaches to help people stay in their homes. 'By taking action to prevent homelessness and reduce demand on the homelessness system, we can help ease the housing emergency. 'Projects such as West Granton Housing Co-operative's 'Get Settled' demonstrates how targeted support can transform lives by not only helping people to find a home but supporting them to settle into their communities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'By working with housing associations, registered social landlords and other third sector partners we are building the foundations for legislation in the forthcoming Housing Bill to help prevent homelessness.' The new fund will be managed by Advice Direct Scotland. Its chief executive Andrew Bartlett said: 'The new 'ask and act' provisions shift the focus from crisis intervention towards proactive prevention which could save many people from enduring the trauma of homelessness. 'We look forward to working with organisations across sectors in Scotland to help people at risk of homelessness.' And Maeve McGoldrick, head of policy and communications for charity Crisis Scotland, also welcomed the new requirements and the fund. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She said: 'Far too many people in Scotland are being forced to experience the trauma and indignity of homelessness in circumstances where, with the right help, it could have been prevented. 'These new legal duties, requiring public services to ask people at risk of homelessness about their housing situation, then act to offer support if needed, will help change that. 'But these plans are a world-first, and for the changes to be effective it's vital we test out how they will work in practice, before the new protections are rolled out across the country. 'By running a series of pilots on the new homelessness prevention duties we can make sure those working in health, justice, education and beyond are fully prepared to play a greater role in ending homelessness in Scotland."
Daily Record
04-08-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Scotland's largest green heating network to be installed in Paisley flats
Renfrewshire Council has confirmed it will install the innovative networked ground source heat pump solution at the two multi-storey blocks in Gallowhill. High rise flats in Paisley are to benefit from the largest green heating network to be built in Scotland. Renfrewshire Council has confirmed it will install the innovative networked ground source heat pump solution at the two multi-storey blocks in Gallowhill. The system, to be installed by contractor Kensa, works by collecting heat from underground pipes and transferring it to homes using a heat pump. The new system will replace the gas network, which is coming to the end of its life, and will provide heat and hot water to all 180 homes within Gallowhill Court and Glencairn Court. It is hoped the new system will also reduce bills for residents, with the cost for the new provision included in their electricity bill. The project is the first time a local authority in Scotland has delivered a solution of this nature and scale in its properties. Work is set to start on site this month with the project expected to be completed by summer 2026. Convener of Renfrewshire Council's communities and housing policy board, Cllr Marie McGurk said: 'We want to make our homes as comfortable and efficient as possible for our tenants. 'By introducing the ground source heating solution in Gallowhill we will deliver a reliable and environmentally friendly system which will help to simplify our tenants' energy bills. 'As a council, we continue to consider climate change in every decision we take and we're reducing our emissions wherever possible in the services we deliver – while continuing to access funding opportunities to make the large-scale changes we know are needed.' Renfrewshire Council was awarded £1,788,382 of funding from the Scottish Government's Scotland Heat Network Fund to support the delivery of the project. Cabinet Secretary for Housing Màiri McAllan said: 'I am very pleased that the Scottish Government has been able to support this project via Scotland's Heat Network Fund. 'This is an excellent example of the growing role that heat networks have to play in Scotland, supporting our twin aims of delivering affordable heat and reducing fuel poverty whilst also cutting carbon emissions. 'We want to encourage greater use of heat networks and later this year we will set out measures to attract further investment by encouraging non-domestic and especially public buildings to connect to these schemes.' Kensa is a pioneer of networked ground source heat pumps. The company's regional manager for Scotland Mark Potter said: 'We're proud to be working with Renfrewshire Council on this landmark decarbonisation project. 'Networked heat pumps offer an effective, energy efficient solution to help flats transition away from gas and other inefficient heating systems. 'By connecting each flat to this system we'll help residents stay warm and comfortable during winter, while keeping energy use and heating costs low. 'Kensa has a strong track record of delivering ground source heat pump systems for projects like this, and we look forward to seeing the long-term benefits it will provide for the Council, residents, and the wider community.' This project is part of wider regeneration plans for Gallowhill which include the development of 65 new build council homes which will also feature low carbon air source heat pumps and a planned Gallowhill Link project which would provide a new active travel and safe route to the new Paisley Grammar School Community Campus currently. Construction of the new homes is due to start later this month.
Scotsman
04-08-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Remove roadblocks that delay new housing
UK governments must act on housing crisis, says Caroline Maciver Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland and other parts of Britain face a serious housing crisis. Think-tank Centre of Cities says there is a backlog of 4.3 million homes missing from the UK's national housing market. Both the Scottish and UK governments have made housebuilding a key policy commitment, but there are a number of developing legislative issues as well as major challenges facing the construction industry which stand in the way of addressing the need for new homes successfully. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In June, the Scottish Government appointed Màiri McAllan as Cabinet Secretary for Housing and pledged £3.5 billion to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. South of the border, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner set out plans to build 1.5 million new houses in England by 2029. As part of the UK Government spending review announced in June, £39bn was pledged over 10 years for social and affordable housing in England. hy While this additional investment is essential and very welcome, new regulations on construction products will likely mean further challenges for home-builders and, in some cases, could present a barrier to progress. The Scottish Government's plans to introduce a new role of Compliance Plan Manager for residential buildings over 11 metres high could, like many new schemes, also create initial bedding-in delays for housebuilders. Meanwhile, the UK Government's Construction Products Reform Green Paper, which puts a strong focus on more third-party testing and certification to ensure product safety and reliability, creates further uncertainty for builders who are unclear how these reforms will work in practice. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The current progress of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England underlines the potentially detrimental impact of new regulation on housing projects. Set up to ensure high-rise buildings are fully compliant with fire safety issues, the BSR's initial 13-week approval timetable has more than doubled, creating a significant backlog in proposed new builds. Following action in England, the Scottish Government is implementing new measures through the Housing (Scotland) Bill around Awaab's Law, which aims to tackle damp and mould in social housing. While this is well-intended legislation, it will place a greater burden on social landlords to investigate and address disrepair and could set back their timetable for building much-needed new social housing across Scotland. Regulatory reform is undoubtedly important in the post-Grenfell era. It is, however, essential for governments to give clear guidance to the construction industry on new measures and ensure prompt timelines are met in the approval of new building applications. More broadly, the Scottish and UK governments must provide wider support to the construction sector to ensure it has the capacity required to build the thousands of homes needed. With 140,000 construction vacancies currently unfilled in the UK and a further 750,000 employees expected to retire in 2026, the government can help the industry to facilitate more workers it needs, including 240,000 new apprentices required over the next decade. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There are also geographical challenges such as a lack of accommodation for contractors in some areas, including in the North of Scotland. Governments can support the sector through the planning system and potential tax incentives to drive home-building in regions of high demand. If the Scottish and UK governments are to address the housing crisis and achieve their ambitious targets, they need to ensure they are a key part of the solution, not a roadblock to progress.
The National
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Four ways Mairi McAllan can fix Scotland's housing crisis
Good evening! This week's edition of the In Common newsletter comes from Dr Craig Dalzell, head of policy and research at Common Weal. Màiri McAllan has returned to the Scottish Government after a well-deserved period of patient parental leave, though has left her former post as Cabinet Secretary for Energy and has been tasked with fixing Scotland's housing crisis. As a writer of policies on both topics I don't exactly envy the position but I can at least lay out some of the options I and my colleagues in Common Weal have published over the years on the topic. Housing is about more than homes – as anyone can attest if they have ever objected to a planning application for a new suburban sprawl on the basis that it would add extra pressure to services such as GPs, schools and other public services without adding to provision – but about building a sense of place, of community and about meeting a fundamental human need for shelter. The task is far larger than I can do justice in these few lines of text but I shall offer Màiri (below) four ideas to help fix housing in Scotland. Actual land reform You cannot build a home without having the land to build on it. This is a particularly acute problem in rural Scotland where despite having the space to build we often cannot access the land due to it being held by mega-estates and is simply not for sale or when it is, the price to buy is being speculated beyond control. We need a land tax and other mechanisms like Mercedes Villalba's proposal to cap maximum land ownership. One of the most powerful ideas though would be to allow councils to buy land at 'existing use value'. That is the value of land as it currently is, not an inflated value based on its 'potential' for housing or other uses. Build 'enough' social housing The central reason why Britain's housing 'market' is broken is because we run housing as a market. Thatcher broke the previous system by selling off social housing and making it impossible for councils to replace them. Social housing should never be the last option before homelessness but the first choice for housing for many. My paper Good Houses for All shows how the borrowing powers of councils and the Scottish National Investment Bank could build essentially unlimited homes for social rent (councils aren't limited in borrowing powers like Holyrood is, so long as the rents are sufficient to pay back the loan). They could be built to the highest possible energy standards to outbid the private sector in both price and quality. And they shouldn't be built to an arbitrary target of 'more houses than the previous government' but based on actual need. Councils should have a waiting list of people who want one of these homes and be resourced to deliver them by a certain date. If we do this, the private sector will be forced to cut rents and increase quality ... or their landlords will decide that they can no longer exploit people for a profit and will have to sell. (Image: Supplied) Fill vacant housing 'But what happens to the houses if the landlords sell?' Scotland already has more vacant homes than we have homeless households. Many of those homes are not being sold, but are still being clung on to as a speculative investment because prices are rising higher than costs. We also have even more vacant housing than appears in those statistics because many high street shops in Scotland have housing units above them that are vacant but are classified as 'commercial use' rather than residential. Look above the ground floor in many places in the centre of Glasgow and you'll start to see them. Policies like increasing council tax multipliers on empty homes and Màiri's announcement this week of extra vacant housing officers will go a long way towards fixing this. Councils should also be resourced to allow them to use their compulsory purchase powers more aggressively – particularly to support them to purchase vacant homes not at 'market rate' but at a fair rate that will include consideration of the costs to repair and retrofit the housing up to the standards expected of newbuilds – this will often be far cheaper than building new and therefore will contribute to the solution to the crisis in a much more resource efficient way. READ MORE: 'Trading people like cargo' UK-France one in, one out deal sparks fury Increase rental building standards For the housing that remains in private rental hands, we need to continue the work already being done around tenants' rights, rent controls and quality standards. As hinted above, many private rented houses in Scotland fall far short of energy efficiency and other environmental standards and urgently need retrofitted. France is rolling out a scheme whereby it will be illegal to rent properties that fall below a certain EPC rating and the minimum rating will keep rising every few years. Scotland should do the same. Before those retrofits happen, many of these properties also need to be repaired first (there's little point in installing solar panels on a leaking roof). The aggressive recapture of housing for social rent mentioned above could also be done with private rented homes that still have sitting tenants if the landlord wishes to sell or is deemed no longer adequately responsible in their management of housing, converting them to social rents and offering a rent-controlled lifetime tenancy to the tenant along with an improving their homes. Conclusion The housing emergency in Scotland is perhaps second only to the climate emergency that Màiri was familiar with in her previous brief. The two are, in fact, interrelated and can't be solved separately. What won't solve it is shovelling more money into the paws of private developers under the guise of 'affordable housing' that is barely either. It's not going to solved by a single tweak anywhere or even if we only do everything on this list but every step we take will lead to more people living more affordably and more securely in a country that can more than afford to provide that, but for too long hasn't by design.
The Herald Scotland
08-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's largest trade unions back calls for rent controls
However, a consultation is currently taking place to consider certain exemptions from rent controls or increases above the rent cap. Tenants group Living Rent has written an open letter to the Scottish Government, supported by the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Unite Scotland, GMB, RMT Scotland, UCU Scotland, and PCS urging it to resist any calls for exemptions. Read More: Addressed to First Minister John Swinney, cabinet secretary Màiri McAllan and cabinet secretary Shirley Anne Somerville it reads: "We, the undersigned, represent a coalition of trade unions, charities, and community groups who stand in solidarity with Scotland's tenants. "We write to you with a clear and urgent message: the situation for renters in Scotland has reached a crisis point. Scotland is in the middle of a housing emergency, as recognised by the Government, with working-class people bearing the brunt. At the same time, Scotland's landlords and their lobbyists are working hard to water down rent controls and make them functionally useless. We need to see bold, urgent action from your Government Scotland, rents are through the roof and the situation is worsening by the day. "With each rent rise tenants' quality of life decreases and your Government moves further away from its target of eradicating child poverty. The Scottish Government made a promise to introduce long-term rent controls to tackle this problem, but it is now buckling under the immense lobbying power of landlords and property investors. "A new consultation is underway which could lead to large numbers of properties being exempted from rent controls. Not only would these exemptions be disastrous for tenants living in these tenures, but they would create a two-tier system which could undermine rent controls overall. "Scotland's tenants deserve better than to be left at the mercy of a housing market driven by greed and inequality. We urge you to act now, ensure there are no exemptions to rent controls and fulfil your promise to introduce robust rent controls before the end of this Parliament." The letter is signed by Aditi Jehangir, chair, Living Rent; Roz Foyer, general secretary, STUC; Gordon Martin, Scotland organiser RMT Scotland; Liz McGachey & John Jamieson, co-convenors of the Scottish Executive Committee, PCS Scotland; Unite Scotland; GMB Scotland, and University and College Union (UCU) Scotland. It can be read in full here. Over 2024, new rents across Scotland increased by 6.2% to an average of £893 per month, up £52 per month compared with the previous year. Data from the Scottish Government published in November revealed that between 2010 and 2024, rents across Scotland have increased on average by 61.3% for two bedroom properties. Living Rent's national campaigns officer, Ruth Gilbert said: 'Introducing exemptions to rent controls will be a disaster for tenants. Exemptions will not only leave thousands of tenants without protections, but they will create a two tier system of tenants whilst undermining rent controls for everyone. "Landlords have been getting away with hiking up rent for too long. Current regulation is simply not strong enough, with landlords exploiting every loophole to increase rent. Exemptions will give landlords even more of a licence to line their pockets whilst tenants suffer. "If done properly, rent controls will be completely transformational for Scottish tenants. The new housing minister has an opportunity to show what she stands for by introducing strong, effective rent controls that bring rents down,increase quality and ensure that everyone in Scotland has a safe, secure, affordable place to call home.'
