Even with hands-tied Scotland fights the housing crisis better than most

https://www.gov.scot/publications/?cat=filter&page=5&sort=date

From the Guardian today:

The housing crisis is now global. It shows just how undemocratic our nations have become. When we can’t even afford to rent or buy somewhere to live, we have to ask: did we give the financial sector too much power?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/19/housing-crisis-global-democracy-nations-financial-sector

How does England compare with this?

In short, England exemplifies Farha’s core argument. The financial sector’s growing power over housing has produced an affordability crisis that democratic mechanisms have only partially addressed, while also showing local policy responses and a still-evolving ownership structure. The direction of travel (more institutional capital, persistent high price-to-income ratios, generational lock-out) aligns closely with the global pattern she describes. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/publications/2024/oct/demand-housing-investment https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2024/12/Housing-Hurdles.pdf https://ifs.org.uk/publications/decline-homeownership-among-young-adults

Scotland?

Some similarities but crucially:

‘Cost of housing crunch in England looms for low-income families, warns Resolution Foundation’ but it does not mention Scotland because…..
Massive increases in completed and started affordable housing as private sector alone is responsible for the ‘crisis’ that media direct at SNP Government
Why is Scotland the only place in the UK with a ‘housing crisis’ when it has the greatest access to housing?
SNP-run Glasgow City build 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool as Guardian predicts social housing lists ‘would take 119 years to clear’
How the social sector housing stock in Scotland plummeted in the Labour years but is recovering in the SNP years

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One thought on “Even with hands-tied Scotland fights the housing crisis better than most”

  1. When we read reports of rioting in many parts of Rurope, housing lies at the bottom, although the media tend to report the discontent amongst school children and students. Since housing is THE BIG ISSUE because it is controlled largely by property speculators, the media tend to try to divert attention away from it.

    Can you imagine BBC Scotland or STV doing serious programmes on homelessness and the cost of rent? Only if they can blame the SNP.

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