Edinburgh Tenants Federation
Investment and Regeneration Working Group
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| Affordable Rented Housing |
| Supporting the Housing Regeneration Areas |
| Working with the Council |
| Building New Council Houses |
| Investment and Regeneration Working Group |
| Investment in Affordable Rented Housing |
| A longstanding priority for the Federation has been the need for increased investment to tackle the chronic shortage of affordable rented housing in Edinburgh . This involves pressing the Scottish Government to increase subsidy to match the need for affordable rented housing. Meanwhile we continue to call on the UK government to remove outstanding debt on existing council homes. In one fell swoop this would end unaffordable council rent increases year–on-year to 2015 to deliver the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, and provide the scope to build new council houses through prudential borrowing. |
| A crucial part of this campaign is a call for an end to the government’s policy bias that favours home ownership at the expense of investment in affordable rented houses. We would like to see this replaced with a policy commitment to invest in and promote affordable rented housing as a positive choice for a wider range of people to create mixed income communities. |
| Supporting the housing regeneration areas |
| Alongside this campaign we support the work of the residents in the housing regeneration areas (currently North Sighthill , Gracemount, Leith Fort, Pennywell and Royston Wardieburn) to influence the current re-housing and refurbishment/demolition programmes. Equally important is to support them to secure the investment required to complete the regeneration process and to give them the opportunity to be involved in planning and building the new communities. |
| Our Outreach Worker provides support to the Registered Tenant Organisations in North Sighthill and Gracemount. When appropriate we bring representatives together from all the areas to share information and co-ordinate their efforts to secure a better future for these areas. |
| Working with the Council |
| At a strategic, city wide level, this work is co-ordinated with the Council through the Investment and Regeneration Group. This is a joint officer and tenant representative working group focusing on the investment strategy and regeneration process. The workload and focus of this group radically altered following the Council decision in August 2008 to explore further the prospect of building 1100 council homes for sale and rent in Pennywell, Gracemount and North Sighthill . It now meets monthly to keep tenant representatives informed of developments and give them the opportunity to scrutinise and influence proposals. A final decision on whether to proceed will be made on the basis of a detailed business case to be considered by the Council in March 2009. |
| Our position on building new council houses |
| ETF welcomes the prospect of once again building council houses in Edinburgh , in particular affordable rented council houses. We especially welcome the opportunity it provides the residents in the housing regeneration areas to be involved in planning and building new sustainable communities. We will support them play a central role in this process and have recently drawn up good practice guidelines with the council on participation in regeneration. Click here to download a copy of these guidelines. |
| Whilst the credit crunch adds to the difficulties in creating a financially viable business case, it also exacerbates the housing crisis and makes the argument for more affordable rented housing ever stronger. Surely the exclusive promotion of home ownership, always unsustainable and unwanted by many, will now end and the desirability of a thriving affordable rented sector will be recognised. |
| We need to see the details of a worked up proposal to build council houses and have the opportunity to scrutinise and influence the business case as it is developed. We will endeavour to maximise the proportion of affordable rented houses that are built, and to ensure that the Council’s proposal is financially viable without raising current rent levels or affecting current improvement plans. This means securing substantial government financial support. The more subsidy that can be secured the greater the proportion of affordable rented accommodation that the Council can build and the less need there will be to build for sale and mid market rent in order to produce a cross subsidy. |
| Investment & Regeneration Working Group |
| To back up and strengthen the accountability of the representatives to the Investment and Regeneration Group, the Executive Committee has established an Investment & Regeneration Working Group. Membership of the Working Group consists of Executive Committee representatives along with representatives from the Registered Tenant Organisations in the housing regeneration areas. |
The purpose of the Working Group is to:
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| If you would like further information on any aspect of the work on investment and regeneration and the proposal to build council houses in the regeneration areas contact the Federation office on 0131 475 2509 or by email to info@edinburghtenants.org.uk |
Click here to download this page as a briefing paper. It will open on a new page.