We need a coherent plan for housing, not election gimmicks | David Alexander

David Alexander’s latest article comments on the recent announcement that Scottish Labour would look to provide houses for £1, and highlights the issues surrounding such a policy that only acts as a headline-grabbing gimmick.

“The low hanging fruit in this policy are 27,000 long-term empty homes which councils would identify and compulsorily purchase. These are properties designated as long-term vacant - currently defined as empty for 18 months - with the average property costing £12,500. The councils would then sell on the homes to those who met the criteria for a £1, and the new owners would be able to get a Government-backed loan to renovate the property.”

David concludes: “This will not resolve the current housing needs, it will not provide homes for those who need them, and it sounds like a way of renovating properties on the cheap, shifting the liability for these homes to the owner without providing sufficient funding to develop quality houses.”

Read what David has to say in the full article here.