PAYMENTS ETC. IN COMMUNITY-BASED HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS. 1985 C. 69 (Hansard, 4 March 1986)

§ Mr. Millan
I beg to move amendment No. 12, in page 10, line 46, at end insert
'or— (iii) has lived in a dwelling within the particular community mentioned in subsection 4(a) below 221 relevant to the association for a continuous period of at least three years immediately preceding the granting of the tenancy.'.
The amendment deals with the granting of tenancies to persons who are either committee members of community-based housing associations or who are close relatives of committee members. The granting of such tenancies is completely forbidden at present but the Bill goes some way to meet the rights of those people by including provisions under which in certain circumstances tenancies can be granted to committee members or to close relatives of committee members.
The provisions are very restrictive. Strong feeling has been expressed in local housing associations. When an amendment was moved in Committee there was reference to representations that I had from Linthouse housing association. Housing associations feel that the rules are grossly unfair to people who voluntarily give up their time to act as committee members of community based housing associations. The restrictive rules are unfair not only to committee members but even more so to close relatives. A son or a daughter is not eligible for the allocation of a house, regardless of need.
I am sorry that the Minister did not accept in Committee the amendment that such tenancies could be granted provided they fell within the published rules of the association for the granting of tenancies. That would be a much more satisfactory way of dealing with the matter. In my amendment I am not returning to that concept although it would be best. I have included another condition, namely, that any person to be granted a tenancy either as a committee member or as a close relative should have had a continuous local association for at least three years immediately preceding the granting of the tenancy. That would meet the fear that committee members might abuse the provision by granting tenancies unfairly or unjustifiably to themselves or to their relatives.
I do not approach the matter on the basis of requiring stringent safeguards in case committee members behave disreputably. If there is a problem, it is offensive to approach it like that. Committee members give up their time voluntarily and put in much effort to improve housing conditions in their communities. They should be dealt with as public spirited local citizens who are doing their best for the local community. If there is a fear of unfair treatment, it might be necessary to put safeguards into the Bill. As I have said, the safeguard that was proposed in Committee was best. My amendment is much more limited, although it requires a genuine local connection.
The present provision is grossly unfair not just to committee members but to immediate members of their families. It discourages public-spirited people from acting as committee members of housing associations. We should remove the disincentive and treat committee members with fairness and generosity in view of their voluntary activities. Although the amendment is limited, it recognises that before a tenancy could be granted the prospective tenant should have had a demonstrative local connection for at least three years. I hope the Minister will accept the amendment in the spirit in which I move it.

§ Mr. Kennedy
I support the amendment. Skye and Lochalsh housing association is perhaps a peripheral example of the point the right hon. Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Milian) was making. When the association first wrote to me about the Bill in general it pointed out 222 that the 12 highly motivated active local residents give their time, skills and commitment to the association entirely voluntarily. It is important to stress that. I am glad that the right hon. Member did so.
Lest there be discrimination in carrying out the policy, the right hon. Gentleman has suggested that a person should have been established in the locality for three years before being granted a tenancy. That is relevant not just in Skye but in other parts of the Highlands where there are many holiday homes, the existence of which causes aggravation and disenchantment to many people who give their time voluntarily to the running of housing associations. That point has been made to me specifically by the housing association of Skye and Lochalsh. It pointed out that at least 12 per cent. of the housing stock in the area is used as holiday accommodation. In some communities the figure is as high as 50 per cent. Anything which helps to underpin a direct local connection, which has been sustained for some time is to be welcomed in the context of my constituency. Therefore I am happy to support the amendment.

§ Mr. Maxton
I briefly support my right hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Millan). It is wrong that there should be an anomaly in the treatment of relatives of voluntary committee members of housing associations compared with district councillors and housing officers and housing employees of district councils. In the latter case there is no bar on the rights of relatives in the granting of tenancies. Yet people who have built the housing association movement in Scotland are discriminated against. Scotland is different from the rest of the United Kingdom with its community-based community housing associations. We have a right to be proud of those associations yet we are placing this burden on the relatives of committee members. It is not right. I support the amendment.

§ Mr. Ancram
I understand the right hon. Gentleman's reasons for tabling the amendment which, as he explained, would increase the range of circumstances in which a community-based housing association could grant a tenancy to a committee member or a close relative. I am not sure that the hon. Member for Ross, Cromarty arid Skye (Mr. Kennedy) was appraised of the fact that the clause refers only to community-based housing associations as designated under the terms of that provision. I do not know that the amendment would help in his area.
The particular problems of community-based housing associations in relation to the granting of benefits centre around the nature of their activities and the fact that those are confined to a limited geographical area. Their renovation programmes must, therefore, at certain points, conflict with the interests of their committee members or their relatives who live in houses which are or are likely to be affected by the programme. In that position there is a clear need on grounds of equity for an association to be able to buy houses from and offer a tenancy to those people when their existing houses are directly affected. The clause as drafted gives them that ability and the 12–months period makes allowance for those who have moved out of the area recently or temporarily.
8.30 pm
The right hon. Member for Govan has suggested that community-based housing associations should be able to grant tenancies to committee members or relatives who 223 are currently resident in the area but not in houses owned by or being acquired by the association. I see that as a distinctly different category of allocation from those categories that are already provided for in new section 15A(b). The same arguments about the direct effect of the development programme on their homes do not apply, and without that distinction they are not in a materially different position from the relatives of committee members of any other housing associations, whether community-based or not.
The provisions that are set out in clause 13 were drawn carefully to provide a specific solution to a particular problem, which is probably unique to community-based housing associations in Scotland. As such, I accept that it merits a solution that is not available to housing associations generally, but only to the degree that the problem can be demonstrated to be uniquely different from those of other associations. That is where the amendment falls down, and it is for that reason that I do not believe that it is necessary, or even desirable, to widen the clause in the way that is proposed. Accordingly, I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will withdraw the amendment. If he does not, I shall have to ask my right hon. and hon. Friends to reject it.

§ Mr. Millan
I have no intention of withdrawing the amendment, especially after such an unsatisfactory reply. The Minister has not directed himself to the real unfairness that currently exists. There are three community-based housing associations in my constituency that are operating in different parts of it, and committee members are typically those who have lived in their local communities all their lives. In some cases their sons and daughters have lived in those communities all their lives. It is absurd that they should be debarred statutorily from being allocated a house in their particular areas. That is monstrous.
There are satisfactory ways of avoiding any suggestion that someone is being treated unfairly or with undue favour. There are different ways of avoiding unfairnesses and the method that was proposed in Committee was rejected. The amendment sets out another approach and that, too, is being rejected. The Minister is turning it down without advancing any substantial argument in favour of refusing to deal with the problems. He is doing so without any real recognition of the sense of injustice which the present provisions cause to committee members as well as to their unfortunate relatives, who in some instances may have nothing to do with the committee members or with them becoming committee members. If I live in a certain community and my brother decides to become a member of a community-based housing association, why should that deny me statutorily of any prospect of being housed by the association? That is absurd and I have no intention of withdrawing the amendment.
Something will have to be done to remedy this injustice and if the Minister will not take the sensible course and have an appropriate provision inserted in the Bill in this place, I hope that those in another place will do the job that requires to be done.