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Herald lies about new house building as Scotland builds more than twice as many, per head, as Labour Wales over decades

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald, today, reads the above graph to say: Building of homes at lowest in decade amid crisis – Fears over affordable housing From Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply to end September 2024, published yesterday, new starts are at the lowest in a decade but completions, actual building, is still 25% up on the lowest level in 2013. Not, of course in the Herald report, though easily found in the same document, Scotland’s leading position in the UK and regularly building twice as many as in Labour-run Wales: As for … Continue reading Herald lies about new house building as Scotland builds more than twice as many, per head, as Labour Wales over decades

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Disgraceful journalism to exploit homelessness and rough-sleeping in the country with by far the least

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The Herald today has this nasty, exploitative image to misrepresent the nature of homelessness for children in Scotland. A child sleeping rough or begging on the streets would be picked up and taken to a safe place. Some facts about homelessness in the UK they don’t want you to know: 1 Core Homelessness lowest in Scotland ‘Core homelessness’ – a concept which captures the most severe and immediate forms of homelessness – is estimated to have stood at 14,250 households on a given night in Scotland in 2019, having been relatively stable over the preceding seven years. Rates of core homelessness are substantially lower in Scotland (0.57% of households) than in England (0.94%) … Continue reading Disgraceful journalism to exploit homelessness and rough-sleeping in the country with by far the least

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Sarwar pulls wee boy huffy face when confronted with uncomfortable facts on housing

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By Professor John Robertson OBA That face! It’s the one a wee boy pulls when he’s caught out telling a porky. At First Minister’s Questions on 21 November 2024, Anas Sarwar theatrically suggested a crisis in housing and didn’t much like being told the truth. Here it is: Year after year, Scotland builds far more, 370 000 per head, affordable (really) housing than England Today, the Scottish Government published Affordable Housing Supply Programme: quarterly updates on approvals, site starts and completions for the year 2023/2024. I thought I’d compare this with the most recent data for England. There are doubts about just how affordable … Continue reading Sarwar pulls wee boy huffy face when confronted with uncomfortable facts on housing

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Why all three 3 Scottish tower block fires have not resulted in ‘towering infernos’ and why in England they seem to be missing the point

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above, and: Far too many high and medium-rise buildings are still unsafe after the Grenfell disaster, with dangerous cladding remaining on at least 2,400 blocks, a housing minister has warned. Wajid Khan, a Labour peer and housing minister, said on Friday that remediation work had not started at approximately 50% of properties being monitored for their unsafe cladding. He told the House of Lords there is a need to “go further, faster” on 2,415 residential buildings over 11 metres in height in England. Figures show that of 4,834 buildings on the register 983 have started remediation, … Continue reading Why all three 3 Scottish tower block fires have not resulted in ‘towering infernos’ and why in England they seem to be missing the point

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As social rent homes in England fall by more than quarter of a million in a decade, Scotland builds 6 times as many

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By Professor John Robertson ‘Affordable’ rent can, be at a rate up to 80% of the market rent for the same property and so, in some places, is far from affordable. ‘Social rent’ is linked to local incomes and thus is truly affordable. In the Guardian, today: More than a quarter of a million social rent homes in England have been lost in the last decade, according to analysis of government statistics. Between April 2013 and April 2023, the number of social housing homes owned by local authorities and housing associations in England fell by 260,464 units, according to the … Continue reading As social rent homes in England fall by more than quarter of a million in a decade, Scotland builds 6 times as many

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More news they don’t want you to hear – Boosting housing supply to tackle homelessness

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Already building more affordable housing in Scotland to help fight poverty, this new initiative is important. From the Scottish Government yesterday and covered nowhere as far as I can see: Efforts to boost affordable housing supply by acquiring properties to bring into use for affordable housing and help reduce homelessness will be given an £80 million uplift over the next two years. The funding, announced by First Minister Humza Yousaf on a visit to Hillcrest Housing Association’s Derby Street development in Dundee, will increase the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget to nearly £600 million in 2024-2025. Investment will help reduce … Continue reading More news they don’t want you to hear – Boosting housing supply to tackle homelessness

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Third tower block fire in Scotland contained on one floor with no casualties proves no Grenfell risk here

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The Scottish media is full of accusations that the SNP Government is failing to spend the ‘almost £100m from the UK government‘ on fireproof cladding to avert a Grenfell ‘towering inferno‘ here. From BBC Scotland this morning: Residents have been evacuated after a fire broke out at flats in Edinburgh in the early hours of the morning. Around 45 firefighters have been tackling the blaze in Breadalbane Street, Leith, with Police Scotland also in attendance. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it sent nine fire engines and a height appliance to the scene after the alarm was raised … Continue reading Third tower block fire in Scotland contained on one floor with no casualties proves no Grenfell risk here

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As homelessness falls only in Scotland – the irony of those claiming we’re being ‘gaslighted’ actually doing it

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Today in the Herald: The head of one of Scotland’s most influential charities has launched a scathing attack on Humza Yousaf over the nation’s “housing emergency” claiming the First Minister is “gaslighting” the country. Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland – the leading housing and homelessness charity – spoke out as it emerged nearly 10,000 children are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation, such as cheap hotels and B&Bs. First, some facts: The Guardian today has There has been a dramatic rise in the number of homeless young people in the UK since Christmas, charities have warned. The New Horizon Youth Centre in London said a record number of … Continue reading As homelessness falls only in Scotland – the irony of those claiming we’re being ‘gaslighted’ actually doing it

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Affordable housing completions in Scotland soar above rest of UK but Labour/Con/Lib Dem unholy coalition in Fife get on BBC Scotland with a different story

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ As BBC Scotland delights today in the irony of the one housing officer, in Fife, who had to declare herself homeless after her private landlord decided to sell, their extended report has, of course, no context. Here is some. The above graph speaks for itself. Since the SNP came into power in 2007/2008, when Labour Scotland’s affordable housing completions were only just above those in Labour England, the Scottish level has climbed and stayed way above that in Con England and even further above that in Labour … Continue reading Affordable housing completions in Scotland soar above rest of UK but Labour/Con/Lib Dem unholy coalition in Fife get on BBC Scotland with a different story

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A Spanish towering inferno, like Grenfell but with far fewer casualties and once more completely unlike Scottish tower block fires safely contained

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Grenfell above in 2017, Valencia below, yesterday: These two towering infernos have some things in common but one big difference – 72 dead in London but only 4 (so far) in Valencia. Why that difference? More escape routes due to better building standards and a better fire service due to the lack of a privatising Conservative Party government, at times, at national and local level in Spain? Other than that key difference, both towers went up in only minutes. Experts say that highly flammable cladding on the … Continue reading A Spanish towering inferno, like Grenfell but with far fewer casualties and once more completely unlike Scottish tower block fires safely contained