Housing Bill passes Stage One in Scottish Parliament
On Thursday last week MSPs voted to pass the Housing Bill at Stage One, which now means it will progress to Stage Two in the new year.
On Thursday last week MSPs voted to pass the Housing Bill at Stage One, which now means it will progress to Stage Two in the new year. The Scottish Government’s stated aims of the Bill are to establish a system of rent controls in the private rented sector, enhance tenant’s rights, and introduce new homelessness prevention duties.
At Stage One of a Bill going through parliament the general principles of the Bill are debated and in this case, have been agreed upon. Ahead of the debate, we briefed MSP’s as to our views on the legislation and what is needed for our members. At Stage Two of the Bill, MSP’s can propose changes to the Bill through amendments.
We continue to call for clarity on exempting Mid-Market Rent homes from private sector rent controls where they are provided by an RSL or its subsidiary. The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, who have led the scrutiny of the Bill, share our view on this and recommend that the Government bring forward appropriate amendments on this at Stage Two.
In the Spring, the Government will launch a consultation on possible exemptions from rent controls. In the meantime, we are working with MSPs to make sure amendments on this matter are lodged at Stage Two and gain support across Parliament.
SFHA strongly supports the intention to shift the focus towards interventions which prevent homelessness rather than respond to it and we’ve briefed MSPs as such. However, we also need more clarity on the role of relevant bodies in the new ‘Ask and Act’ duties and this view was backed by the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. We also welcome the provisions on domestic abuse within the Bill but have briefed MSPs on the need to support the sector and individual RSLs on these.
We’ve also been clear that legislation alone cannot achieve the policy objectives set out unless it is backed by resources to support implementation. It seems our lobbying on this has been heard and we were pleased to see the Scottish Government announce in separate statements £1m in grant funding for tenancy sustainment and homelessness prevention and an additional £4m for homelessness prevention pilots.
Whilst we are generally supportive of the Bill, we are also concerned that it does very little to improve the new supply of social homes during a national housing emergency. However, given the increase in funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in yesterday’s Budget we are hopeful that we are seeing a change of direction from the Government and that confidence can be rebuilt in the sector.