Housing (Hansard, 18 November 1992)

§ 7. Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland who he has met in the past year to discuss the supply of housing in Scotland.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
My right hon. Friend and I have frequent meetings with individuals and organisations involved in the provision, management and sale of housing in Scotland.

§ Mr. McAllion
Scotland faces a national housing crisis in terms of increased homelessness, which has risen 133 per cent. over the past 10 years, and the loss, over the same period, of 250,000 homes for rent. Does not the Minister understand that his recent spending announcements come nowhere near the sums required to meet the targets set by the Institute of Housing in Scotland of 15,000 new affordable homes for rent every year? Does he not comprehend either that people in Scotland with the most desperate housing need cannot afford owner occupation and rent-to-mortgage schemes? Most of all, they cannot afford the Minister's obsession with forcing tenure changes at the expense of the Government's failure to meet the demand for decent homes at an affordable rent.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
There is a large amount of activity in the hon. Gentleman's constituency. The Scottish Homes allocation in Dundee has increased from £10.9 million in 1991–92 to more than £15.8 million. As the hon. Gentleman will be the first to recognise, the remarkable transformation at Whitfield is continuing—as I know, having visited the Ormiston people's housing co-operative and Vale of Duntrune community housing association. The hon. Gentleman will welcome, as I do, the £70 million extra that will be made available to Scottish Homes' enabling programme as a result of the excellent settlement that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State managed to obtain, which will increase the programme by 283 some £20 million in each of the next three years. I will bear in mind the hon. Gentleman's own district council's needs before we make provisional allocations.

§ Mr. Ian Bruce
Surely the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. McFall), in his question, has done exactly the reverse—

§ Madam Speaker
Order. I am not seeking comments at Question Time. I must have questions, from all parts of the House.

§ Mr. Ian Bruce
Surely it needs to be said to people in all parts of the country, and particularly in Scotland, that they can afford to buy their own homes—and that by purchasing their council houses, 100 per cent. of the money raised can be spent on providing the new homes for which right hon. and hon. Members in all parts of the House seem to be asking.

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
I agree. We know that 52 per cent. of Scots now own their homes, and that many more aspire to home ownership. I had the good fortune to visit the first rent-to-mortgage owner in Dundee, who works for the council. The scheme is welcomed by those who seek the right and the opportunity to own their homes, and it provides a new home ownership market which will be appreciated by those who cannot quite afford to exercise the right to buy.

§ Mr. Michael J. Martin
The Minister will know that there are some excellent sheltered housing complexes throughout Scotland, including my constituency. They provide high-quality housing for elderly people who are protected by wardens 24 hours a day. Why does not the Minister give more funds to the local authority, to Scottish Homes and to the housing associations, so that more good housing can be provided for our elderly people?

§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
The extra £20 million a year over the next three years which constitutes the extra enabling programme for Scottish Homes should allow more progress to be made in that regard. We shall bear Glasgow's needs very much in mind if any supplementary allocations are made, or else when the provisional allocations are made.