Local Authorities
Local authorities also have an important role to play in meeting the rural housing challenge. Often they are working in partnership with Scottish Homes in implementing its rural housing policy. For their own investment under the system of Housing Plans, local authorities are required to draw up strategies and set targets in respect of local priority issues and the four identified national priority issues:
Authorities are required to assess their progress against these targets on an annual basis. Rural local authorities are responding to the new system and the main features of local authority housing investment in rural areas are works of energy efficiency to combat condensation and dampness in the public sector and a substantial improvement and repairs grant programme to combat the high incidence of below tolerable standard housing in both owner-occupied and tied houses. Increasingly, local authorities are looking to partnership with housing associations and other private sector partners to tackle their housing need.
Action on community care and homelessness should take account of rural problems and solutions for example, people living in residential caravans and housing and community care packages that enable people to live in their own homes rather than move into supported housing in the larger towns. Extra capital allocations have been given for such projects as reducing the use of residential caravans while care and repair schemes assist the elderly and disabled people to carry out repairs and adaptations allowing them to stay in their own home.
We also strongly encourage local authorities to consider stock transfers to housing associations as a means of improving the stock by opening up access to private finance. We look to local authorities and Scottish Homes to work in partnership to secure satisfactory housing provision. This will mean that resources are more effectively used, promoting an increased contribution from private funds, promoting better use of vacant or under used housing and promoting the co-ordination of housing and economic investment programmes designed to stimulate growth through the enterprise network.
Expanding Owner Occupation in Rural Areas
Our policy of increasing opportunities for home ownership has been successful in rural areas, as it has been across Scotland. Overall, home ownership has increased from 35% in 1979 to 57% in 1994 and is set to increase still further. We have set a target of 60% within the current Parliament. The Right to Buy is, of course, available to public sector tenants living in rural areas and many have taken advantage of the opportunity. Shared ownership schemes are also used extensively in rural areas and can be particularly beneficial in helping local people enter home ownership in pressurised housing markets. Rural Home Ownership Grants can also help people on modest incomes build their own home.
Our policy of encouraging private sector provision has also paid dividends with private sector completions rising steadily in rural areas over the past decade. Almost 50,000 new homes have been built in rural areas since 1985. In 1994, a record year for private house building in Scotland, over 6,000 new homes were completed by private developers in rural areas, a significantly higher proportion per head of the population than in urban areas.
Making the Most of the Stock
Empty property is a matter of serious concern since it represents a wasted resource which could be brought back into use for those in housing need. Scottish Homes has a number of initiatives aimed at bringing empty houses back into use but of particular relevance to rural areas is the Rural Empty Homes Initiative. This started as a pilot in the Angus Glens Rural Demonstration Area and established that there was potential for bringing empty properties on estates back into use, with grant assistance from Scottish Homes for rehabilitation. Nine such grants were awarded in the pilot - not many, but even enabling one or two families to remain, or come to live, in an area can make all the difference to the viability of the local school or the village shop. The scheme has been expanded throughout rural Scotland.
Rural local authorities generally have a lower level of empty houses than their urban counterparts. There are a number of reasons for this. They may have an attractive housing stock, with few houses which are difficult to let. Most do not face the problems of urban regeneration, under which blocks of flats or whole estates may be empty, awaiting comprehensive redevelopment and refurbishment, or even demolition.
Nevertheless, rural authorities should seek to ensure that they reduce the number of empty houses to an absolute minimum. In October 1994, we published a Good Practice Note on Void Management which described a range of actions that landlords can take to reduce the number of empty houses. The Note points out that a pro-active management policy will minimise rent lost through property lying empty and it makes specific recommendations. These recommendations are relevant for rural authorities, which should use them to make sure that houses which are being vacated are reoccupied quickly by people in housing need.
We will continue to encourage rural local authorities and Scottish Homes to work together along with other partners such as housing associations, local enterprise companies, the private rented sector and local communities to meet the local housing challenge and to ensure that the specific housing needs of rural areas are taken into account at all levels.
