Ayrshire Housing disappointed with government paper

Mar 6 2009

AYRSHIRE Housing says it is disappointed with the Scottish Government’s consultation paper titled Affordable Housing.

A spokesman said: “We regret that proposals for regional competitions amongst groups of housing associations for the lion’s share of future funding remains largely unchanged from Firm Foundations.

“This is despite the almost unanimous criticism of the proposals by the country’s housing associations.

“At the time we said that they would undermine local accountability and tenant control as well as the ability of associations to respond flexibly to local housing needs and the wider concerns of our communities.

“Like many other associations, we suggested that the efficiencies that the government desires could be achieved much more effectively by fostering partnerships between the councils and housing associations, based on longer-term investment planning.

“The government argues that current house building crisis makes the case for investment reform on their terms even greater, to increase affordable housing supply and save construction jobs.

“We argue in our response here that in fact the implementation of the proposals will have the opposite effect.

“It will defect our collective attention from creating dynamic new partnerships at a local level to unlock opportunities and secure construction related jobs.”

To read the Ayrshire Housing board’s full response to the government go to www.ayrshirehousing.org.uk

Ayrshire Housing is an association with a stock of 1200 houses, an active development programme, and 150 houses under construction.