23 September 2005
The right to buy for new council and housing association tenants should be abolished, the Scottish Executive has been told.
The plea to end the policy, first introduced by the former Conservative government, was made by the influential Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.
In a letter to First Minister Jack McConnell, it says the right must be changed to boost Scotland's dwindling supply of affordable rented housing.
If the right were excluded from new council and housing association tenancies, 200,000 houses could be removed from eligibility between 2007 and 2012, the federation claims. It adds that rented housing supply could be further protected by abandoning the planned extension of the right to buy to thousands of housing association properties in 2012.
The federation's letter coincides with the launch of its campaign booklet, Stop the housing drain. The Executive is due to report to the Scottish Parliament in 2006 on the effects of right to buy and the SFHA wants changes to be made as soon as possible after that.
David Bookbinder, SFHA policy co-ordinator, said: 'The Scottish Executive has recently been making welcome new funds available for new housing development to improve the supply of affordable rented housing, and this upward trend will need to continue.
'But for every house being built, almost four are being lost, so we need to find additional ways of contributing to future supply.'
He pointed out that, by 2012, every homeless household in Scotland would be entitled to a house and added: 'Unless we can protect as much as possible of the stock we have and the stock we're building, by 2012 it will be almost impossible for anyone who isn't homeless to get housed by a council or housing association.'
The Scottish Tories said the right to buy policy was one of their proudest achievements, which was now under concerted assault from the other parties.
The Scottish party leader, David McLetchie, said: 'Right to buy has done more to transfer wealth and power from the state to ordinary working people than anything the Labour Party has ever done. It triggered a transformation in housing estates across Scotland and gave people the pride of home ownership.'
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