Highland housing crisis: build council homes at affordable rents

Highland Socialist Party Scotland reporters

The Highlands and Islands are in the midst of a housing crisis. The proliferation of second homes, holiday lets for companies like Airbnb, and a lack of availability of social housing at affordable rent has created a perfect storm which locks working class locals out of the housing market and threatens the livelihoods and social cohesion of communities.

A case in point is the situation in Lochaber. Private rentals of 2-bedroom houses on estate agent websites can attract exorbitant rents of upwards of £900 per calendar month putting them well out of reach of locals, many of whom are in low paid, seasonal work in the tourist sector.

A local community campaigner said: “The average family in Fort William (would find) this unaffordable by a great stretch. Most people either have jobs in hospitality or shop work which is low paid as the culture for jobs are ‘seasonal casual’. Aside from that there are a lot of building works being done for housing in Blar Mhor, Upper Achintore and the old council building in town. I question the affordability of these properties because a 3-bed seems to be upwards of £650 per month and 2-bed upwards of £550 a month.

“How can working class people be able to afford such high rents without sacrificing another part of their lives like being able to afford to eat or pay for energy costs. Rising numbers at the local foodbank (show) that people are struggling now more than ever.

“There needs to be a cap on private rents, now, throughout the whole of Scotland. Why are councils or the Scottish Government not doing anything about this?”

An illustration of the scale of the problem is shown via the council’s Demand and Supply tool, which shows stock levels and availability of social housing in a given area. 134 families are currently looking for a two-bedroom house in Fort William. Social Housing organisations have 18 such properties. No such properties have been re-let recently.

A conservative estimate of the numbers of people seeking social housing in the region, given in the local press, is 8,000. But given that there is little to no chance of obtaining a council house, the number of people who are in need but do not apply means this is just the tip of a growing iceberg. 1,000 people per annum register as homeless in our region.

A housing development in the Blar Mor area of Fort William, which will be completed soon, will see 87 additional council properties come on to the market. This is a welcome step but the fact that it is heralded as the largest social housing project in the region since the 1980s speak to the neglect and inaction that the working class in the Highlands have suffered in terms of housing over the last four decades. This council housing project represents just 1% of the housing required to even begin to tackle the growing housing crisis.

The rise of holiday lets, while raking in profit for landlords (£3.1 million in the Fort alone) is exacerbating the problem. Often, tenants are asked to move out to accommodate tourists. A recent report in the Oban Times showed In the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward the figure for holiday lets was 618 listings out of 6,344 dwellings – just under 10 per cent (9.74 per cent).

Other Highland hotspots included Skye (18.63 per cent of all dwellings) and Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh (10.73 per cent). This pressure inflates rents for locals, and perhaps ironically, the tourism industry, which is meant to provide economic benefits, cannot find staff in the local area because they have been priced out of the local housing market.

Anecdotal evidence told to the Socialist suggests that cleaners for properties are having to travel up to an hour each way to get to work from areas with affordable accommodation.

Prior to the Scottish Election last May, Iomairt an Eilein, a group of young folk in Skye, highlighted the need for housing and work for young people in the region in order to secure the sustainability of their communities.

socialist policy on housing

Sean Robertson, Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) regional list candidate for Highlands and Islands in the May 2021 Scottish parliament elections, fully supported Iomairt an Eilein’s campaign saying:

“Our communities have been commodified for decades. Reversing this trend is possible, but will take a massive, united struggle by communities, workers, and young people. We have a vision for the Highlands and Islands which puts the needs of these groups first.

“Over years of living and campaigning in the Highlands we have heard repeatedly that housing, even for those in full time work, is unaffordable or unattainable. This is a trend seen across the region but magnified in hotspots like Skye, the islands and Lochaber. To go some way to address this, if there was a socialist government, we would build 100,000 council houses in the next parliament, including 10000 in Highland, with many thousands more in preceding years. These would be available at affordable rent.

“To build and maintain these we would institute a democratically controlled, community-led housing construction company which would offer full training and permanent jobs to hundreds of young people at a minimum wage of £12 per hour, rising rapidly with experience. Importantly, communities would have a direct say over where houses were built and fair allocation of housing to those in most need. For example by ring fencing housing for young people or key workers.

“An astonishing fact is that the number of empty houses and vacant second homes in the UK out strips the number of homes required to house the homeless. If just 40% of vacant homes were brought back into use this could end homelessness at a stroke.

The Scottish Government should immediately legislate to provide councils and community housing groups with both powers and funding to take vacant properties into democratic public ownership under community control, with compensation being paid on the basis of proven need. And no-one needs a second, third or fourth home, particularly when young people can’t find or afford even one.

“Building thousands of council houses, and taking thousands more unused or second homes into public ownership, would also have the effect of creating a glut on the supply side of the housing market, driving down both private rents and house prices.”

In 2022, local council elections are being held. Scottish TUSC is calling on trade unionists, socialists, workers, young people and communities to begin discussing a slate of anti-cuts candidates to stand next May.

We are organising a meeting on Thursday 21 October at 7pm to discuss this. (Zoom link at end of this article).

Socialist Party Scotland says:

• Fight for the building of 10,000 council homes, under democratic community control to end housing poverty.
• Fight for Highland Council and Scottish Government to implement rent controls now at a level no higher than council rents. Fair rent decisions should be made by elected bodies of tenants, housing workers and representatives of trade unions.
• Campaign to have all Public Works Loan Board Debts forgiven which would, at a stroke, wipe out Highland Council’s annual budget deficit and allow significant capital investment in Housing.
• Set No-cuts budgets which meet the housing needs of young people, key workers and communities.
• Support all measures to democratically curb second home and holiday let proliferation and go further by taking the tourism sector including big tourism firms like Airbnb into democratic public ownership under worker and community control so that they become a benefit and not a detriment to local communities.

Come to the Scottish TUSC meeting on Thursday 21 October and help build the anti-cuts, socialist challenge for the May 2022 council election.

Join Zoom Meeting at 7pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85364055961