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Housing (Scotland) Bill
The Housing (Scotland) Bill has been published on the Scottish Parliament’s Website. The Bill has been amended following the consultation carried out in 2009 to reflect the views of stakeholders. Among the changes that have been made are:
- Introducing a specific reference to safeguarding and promoting the interests of homeless people in the modernised Scottish Housing Regulator’s (SHR) objective;-Stengthening the role of tenants, homeless people and other service users, placing them at the heart of regulation through new duties on the SHR;
- Promoting equal opportunities by placing a duty on the SHR to encourage equal opportunities and requiring social landlords to provide housing services in a way that encourages equal opportunities;
- Removing the scope for profit-distributing businesses to register as RSLs, in view of the strength of feeling against this among tenants and social landlords;
- Extending the scope of pressured-area designations which restrict the right to buy and devolving decision-making on this to local authorities; and
- Ending right to buy for new tenants entering the social rented sector or returning after a break.
The next stage is that the Minister will be inviting representatives to take part in a Housing Bill Sounding Board which will include all key stakeholders. That Sounding Board will meet regularly to consider the detail of the Bill until it receives Royal Assent in the autumn.
To read more about the bill use the link below
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/lgc/inquiries/Housing/call.htm
Housing Policy Discussion
Link to discussion paper and webpage on housing policy debate which was launched by the Minister for Housing and Communities.
http://housingdiscussion.scotland.gov.uk/
