Politicians are quick to declare ‘emergencies’ when sectors begin to fail. That knee-jerk reaction is often followed by finger-pointing, blistering speeches, and playing the blame game.
Some are justified. People who pay into the tax system expect results. Governments are custodians of our country and are rightly scrutinised for decisions they make and are responsible for their actions.
Housing has always been a fragile sector that has teetered on the edge of an emergency. For as long as I can remember, demand has always outstripped supply. Some blame the Conservatives for the Right to Buy scheme introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government back in the 1980s.
In my view, this is a lazy, ideological argument for the lack of social housing supply we experience today. In fact, had not been for the bold, unapologetic intention for council tenants of local authorities to own their home, my parents would not have been afforded the opportunity to re-enter the housing ladder.
The uncomfortable truth for many Labour dominated councils in Scotland during the Nineties is that the money generated from these purchases was never reinvested into building more social housing to replenish their depleted stock. Councils no longer prioritise house building, mainly as they are busy grappling with the challenges of keeping basic public services operational.
Right to Buy in Scotland was abolished in 2016 and with it, the rights of working-class people to own their own home.
The housing crisis extends beyond social housing. Successive left-wing governments in Holyrood have launched full-frontal attacks on the private rented sector, stifling investment, and forcing landlords out of the housing market.
The Housing Bill, currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament, is a prime example of this. The SNP, with a little help from their Green counterparts, embarked on a mission to introduce permanent rent controls, with no evidence of success to back up their intentions.
For a short period during the pandemic, rent controls were introduced to prevent rents rising too high, too quickly. However, this had the opposite effect.
Between September 2022 and March 2024, private rental prices increased by 16.5%. Scotland became an outlier, with rental prices outstripping that of any UK nation or region, including London. In a single year, 21,000 flats and houses disappeared from Scotland’s private rental sector.
But that’s not all. The economic damage of rent controls led to £3.2 billion in lost investment, harming growth and spooking the housing market.
At a time when people are desperate for homes, government should be encouraging growth, not taking a sledgehammer to the bricks and mortar holding the sector together. Should rent controls be introduced, I anticipate more landlords will have no choice but to lock their doors and ask tenants for their keys back.
Solving the housing emergency is complex. The simple answer is to build more homes.
Another possible solution is to bring back Right to Buy.
My argument is that today’s youth are known as ‘generation rent’. They are likely to stay within the rental market as the likelihood of them climbing the housing market is far beyond their financial reach.
Whether that be mortgage rates or being priced out of homeownership, there is no real incentive for young people to own a home.
Creating fluidity in the housing market by making it easier for people to own their home will alleviate the pressures on waiting lists and naturally reduce rents in the private rental sector.
If Right to Buy were ever reintroduced in Scotland, lessons must be learned. Councils would need to take ownership of replenishing council stock, reinvesting money accumulated from the sale of council properties, to then reinvested in social housing. Not only would this assist the Scottish Government’s affordable homes target of 110,000 by 2032, but there will also be a significant economic benefit.
There is also a strong case to be made for providing councils with more capital to buy back ex-council stock, should homes appear on the market. One of the biggest problems in more affluent local authority areas is that councils cannot afford to buy back ex-council stock. Offering Right to Buy as a solution may well be a start in fixing social housing waiting lists.
The act of declaring a housing emergency won’t do anything to rebuild the housing sector. What we need are bold ambitions to tackle the emergency in Scotland head on.
Perhaps it’s time to re-look at what previous governments achieved and learn from their success.