Sustained support for CLH initiatives for new build homes and regeneration in Scotland – Glasgow City Council

Glasgow City Council (GCC) is a successful example of how a large city, with the political and senior officer commitment to do so, can support and sustain CLH initiatives. This is supported by a funding system for social housing providers in Scotland that is more generous than in England, with higher grant levels. GCC manages the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme for the city.

In Scotland community based housing associations and co-operatives (CCHAs) have been responsible not just for the provision of affordable housing but for the wider the physical, social and economic regeneration of their communities. They act as community anchors, empowering communities to make decisions about their own areas. They were first set up in Glasgow in the early 1970s, to tackle slum conditions in run-down inner city neighbourhoods. Now most of the 68 RSLs in the city are CCHAs or co-ops.  The Council transferred its social rented housing to RSLs in 2003, including CCHAs.

GCC funds CCHAs as they contribute to the six priorities in Glasgow’s Housing Strategy, in particular:

1. Promote area regeneration and enable investment in new build housing
2. Manage, maintain and improve the existing housing stock
3. Raise standards in the private rented housing sector

CCHAs do this by building new homes, and supporting regeneration and place making. They also support community empowerment, including skills and capacity building; training and employment opportunities; help communities to set up social enterprises; and develop and manage local community facilities including shops, cafés and commercial work spaces.

The City Council’s support for CCHAs in Glasgow includes:

• Leading on regeneration schemes, including eight transformational regeneration areas (TRAs) in the city, three new neighbourhoods and a city deal project with seven other local authorities in the City region area where associations have a new build role. Lauriston Living is a major regeneration project on a mainly derelict and vacant site designated as Lauriston TRA. Partners include GCC, the Scottish Government, and New Gorbals Housing Association (NGHA), a CCHA controlled by an elected volunteer management committee of Gorbals residents. So far, it has delivered 201 social rent and 39 mid-market rent homes for NGHA as well as 69 homes for sale.
• Providing development funding for new build housing (c£70m a year plus funding from the second homes council tax fund), including technical evaluation of tenders, land acquisition and planning costs:
• Funding a strategic acquisition programme through RSLs to drive up standards in the private rented sector and resolve repair, maintenance and management issues in mixed tenure blocks: GCC is investing £14m alongside the Scottish Government’s £20m for the acquisition of 350 mostly private rented homes by Govanhill Housing Association, a community-controlled and owned organisation.

Enabling access to land including access to vacant and derelict land and contributing to infrastructure work and site remediation measures, and assisting with land consolidation to allow developments to proceed.

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