Composite I (Covering Motions 52 & 54 and Amended Motions 51 & 53)
Housing
‘‘That this Congress notes that Scotland is in a housing emergency. The average private rent in Scotland is now £1,243 per month, compared to a UK average of £973 (July 2023). Private sector rents have risen by, on average, 51.6% between 2010 and 2023 compared to real terms decline in wages.
“Congress recognises young people are disproportionately represented in the private rental sector, where they are renting for longer and increasingly unable to access public housing/own their own homes.
‘‘The Scottish Housing Regulator’s 2023 report states the homelessness system is ‘at risk of systemic failure’, with warnings from the Accounts Commission that housing and homelessness services are at risk. Local authorities cannot do more with less and services are buckling under the strain – with devastating impacts on people across the country who do not have access to a home that meets their needs.
“Councils are struggling to meet their statutory homelessness duties because of the lack of social housing. Hundreds of millions of public money is haemorrhaging annually from overstretched Scottish councils to private landlords to pay for temporary homeless accommodation. The solution lies in action to expand the stock of quality council housing for social rent, including in the longer term the return of housing stock to local authority control.
‘‘Congress notes that the Scottish Government gave an increased £60 million to councils and housing associations to buy properties including empty homes and private sector homes but this did not compensate for the 19% cut to the affordable housing supply budget.
“Decades of underinvestment in social housing and frontline services suffering over a decade of austerity policies, combined with rising material and labour costs for building, has been compounded by the recent cut of over £200m from the Scottish Housing Budget.
“Public housing stock has declined significantly since the 1980s, with fewer and fewer people being able to access public housing. The Scottish Government should be building more public housing as a matter of urgency.
“Congress also recognises that the Scottish Government’s rent cap in the private rented sector does not apply to properties being newly let, only to ‘in-tenancies’ (existing tenancies) meaning there is a financial incentive for landlords to evict their tenants. Official figures show that, across the private rented sector, rents rose 5.5% in Scotland in the year to May 2023, the largest annual rise since 2012. However, rents for new lets in the private rented sector in Scotland rose by 15.8% in the year to June 2023.
“Congress believes that we need a points-based system of rent controls in the private sector which ties rent to the quality of a home (energy efficiency, quality, amenities etc.); brings rent down to genuinely affordable levels; and is tied to property, not tenancy.
“Congress recognises that Living Rent is doing excellent work in this arena, building collective power through community organising to achieve these housing-related demands.
“Congress notes that housing stock in Scotland is of a poor quality with approximately 60% of private rented housing being of energy efficiency EPC D or lower.
‘‘Congress notes the causal link between poor housing and poor health outcomes has been long established. With more people on the brink of fuel poverty the problem will worsen. In 2021 the Building Research Establishment estimated that the cost to the NHS of treating those affected by poor housing as £1.4 billion per year. The most costly issue to the NHS relates to excess cold.
‘‘A report published in 2022 by the Institute of Health Equity notes that homes that are cold due to fuel poverty exacerbate health inequalities. Cold homes cause and worsen respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, poor mental health, dementia, hypothermia and problems with childhood development. In some circumstances health problems may be exacerbated to a degree they may cause death.
“Congress believes it is vital that the STUC continue to emphasise that the housing crisis is a public health crisis.’’
“Congress further recognises the climate crisis and the repeated commitments and rhetoric to move towards a low carbon economy requires political decisions and systems and processes to be devised to create contracts and associated building work beyond any one parliamentary term.
‘‘Congress calls for:
- Councils and RSLs to be given first refusal to buy back homes previously in their ownership when they come up for sale;
- the level of government subsidy to be raised for new build social housing and councils given the same level of subsidy as RSLs;
- the introduction of a wealth tax, a new system of land value capture, and explore the use of public sector pension funds for investment in social housing;
- a system of rent controls to protect private tenants and an interim rent cap until such time as legislation introducing rent controls is enacted;
- a new Scottish Rents Affordability Index to establish a fair rent level for new rental properties and to peg maximum rents at affordable levels across all private rented accommodation;
- a large increase in the building of housing for social rent, particularly council houses;
- the Scottish Government to create the necessary pathways and incentivisation for young workers entering the workforce or workers in carbon-intensive industries who want to transition out of those sectors through a universal jobs guarantee; and
- the Scottish Government to implement a mass retrofit programme, delivered through public sector bodies.’’
“Congress calls on the STUC General Council to:
- write to the First Minister to declare a Housing emergency;
- challenge the levels of rent in the mid-market social housing sector;
- support calls for rent controls and an expanded programme of public housing;
- work alongside affiliates and community organisations on relevant campaigns such as mass retrofitting programmes;
- promote the work of Living Rent to affiliates;
- support Living Rent’s New Deal for Private Tenants which calls for rent controls which can reduce the cost of rent, not simply stop them from increasing;
- support Living Rent’s New Deal for Social and Public Tenants which calls for more democracy for those living with social and public tenancies; and
- campaign to extend emergency legislation on evictions and rent hikes before true rent controls can be brought in.”
Mover: UNISON
Seconder: Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Supporters:
STUC Youth Conference
Glasgow Trades Union Council
University and College Union
RSS