‘Housing is a key priority for this government and is fundamental to tackling poverty’ – Housing Minister Margaret Burgess
Housing Minister Margaret Burgess has pledged to invest £3 billion to deliver 50,000 new affordable homes over the next five years. The new target is a 67 per cent increase in affordable housing supply, with 70 per cent of the new target being for social rent. Continue reading Minister pledges 50,000 new affordable homes
‘We desperately need housing but the local planning authority isn’t addressing the basics’ – Colin Keir MSP
Colin Keir MSP for Edinburgh Western has called for infrastructure to be put in place to allow sustainable housing development in Edinburgh. Continue reading Keir: Housing situation ‘pressing on being critical’
‘It’s important we send a strong message of support to them’
Alison Johnstone, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian, has lodged a motion at the Scottish Parliament calling for financial support for the 200 tenants of Lorne Street in Leith who face being evicted from their homes by the charity that owns their flats. The Agnes Hunter Trust wants to sell the properties, saying maintenance costs are too high. Continue reading Johnstone lodges motion supporting Lorne Street residents
Tenants & Residents in Muirhouse (TRIM) meets tomorrow (Tuesday 10 November) at 6.30pm in Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre. All welcome. Continue reading TRIM meeting tomorrow
Homes selling more quickly as confidence grows
The property market in east central Scotland is growing in confidence, with an increased number of homes being sold and more properties achieving their Home Report valuation, according to the latest analysis by ESPC.
The number of new homes brought to market between the months of August and October 2015 increased by 1.6% annually, reversing the trend of year-on-year decreases seen since the House Price Report in May.
This follows a surge at the start of the year, then a dip over the summer in the number of homes being brought to market following the introduction of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).
‘Offers over’ is becoming the most popular as a way to market property, with 72% of properties brought to market with this pricing strategy, compared with 55% for the same period in 2014. Properties sold as ‘offers over’ are achieving an average of 6.2% over the asking price, up from 5.4% last year.
Maria Botha-Lopez, business analyst for ESPC, said: “This month’s House Price Report is continuing to demonstrate steady growth in the housing market in east central Scotland.
“As we have seen in previous reports, conditions are favourable for sellers with more homes being sold, which are taking less time to sell and are increasingly achieving their Home Report valuation.”
Average prices across east central Scotland are also continuing to remain steady, with a 1.5% increase between August and October 2015 compared with the same period last year. However, as with previous reports, there has been fluctuations in different areas of the region.
This time last year, the areas and property types that were showing the largest year-on-year increases in selling prices were three bedroom houses in Liberton and Gilmerton and properties in West Fife and Kinross.
Now, three bedroom homes in South Queensferry and Dalmeny are showing a 3.3% growth, while the average selling price of three bedroom homes in Liberton and Gilmerton has increased 1%.
Two bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa are once again among the areas and property types showing the largest year-on-year increases in selling prices, as are one bedroom flats in Dalry, Gorgie, Slateford and Chesser, which are becoming popular areas for first time buyers.
podcast discussing the report in detail:
Key points
Council plans to build an additional 5000 homes
The City of Edinburgh Council has set out plans to build 8,000 homes in an attempt to address the shortage of affordable housing and tackle the impact of soaring housing costs in the private sector.
A report to Tuesday’s Health, Social Care and Housing Committee will outline proposals to increase the Council’s house-building programme from 3,000 to 8,000 over the next decade.
The report represents a major change in the Council’s bid to meet growing demand for new affordable homes. Almost 150 households bid for every Council and housing association home available to let in Edinburgh, and the city’s population is set to grow by up to 30% over the next 20 years.
The Council has already committed to funding the construction of almost 3,000 new homes through the award-winning 21st Century Homes and working in partnership with the National Housing Trust. The proposals are part of the Council’s ongoing budget consultation details, of which can be accessed here.
Councillor Cammy Day, Housing Leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Expanding the Council’s award-winning house-building programme would be a bold and strategic response to the acute shortage of homes in Edinburgh. High quality, low cost, energy efficient housing is simply out of reach for far too many people in the city. We are determined to address that.”
More young people than ever living in poverty
The most comprehensive review ever carried out on progress towards greater equality and human rights protection across Scotland and the rest of Britain has been published. Continue reading It’s not fair: ‘many people are being left behind’
Grim New Year: charity’s tenants fight Lorne Street eviction
A social media campaign and local politicians are supporting a petition to save over 100 families from eviction after a charity put their Lorne Street homes up for sale. Tenants have set up Lorne Community Association (LCA) and hope to transfer their houses into a new community-run housing co-operative – but they have only THREE MONTHS to prove their plan stacks up.
The Agnes Hunter Trust says the sale of the Leith homes is a more effective way of maintaining income that can then be given out as grants to the local community.
The trust was set up in 1954 by Miss Agnes Hunter with the properties built by her father in the 1870s and they have since been let by the Hunter family to the people of Leith. The properties and the rental income received are then used by the Hunter Trust to support good works and worthy causes in the Leith community and beyond – these include support for people suffering from arthritis and other health conditions and ‘assistance with the education and training of disadvantaged people’.
Two hundred tenants have been issued letters of four months statutory notice to quit and find alternative rented accommodation, but campaigners have appealed for a year to turn the homes into a local community-run housing co-operative.
Petitioner Melanie Weigang said: “Over 200 tenants in Lorne Street, Leith are facing eviction. We ask that City of Edinburgh Council does everything possible within its powers, including financial support, to support the tenants to save the community and to set up a housing co-op.”
The Trust has confirmed it will resume the process of evicting tenants in January if the trustees cannot be persuaded that the LCA can buy the flats at market rates.
The first evictees will be those who have lived in a property for less than four years.
Many of the old tenement properties are understood to be in a poor state and require modernisation, but tenant Lucy Dey said she and many others have nowhere else to go. She said: “We’re not asking for much – just a year. By then we’re confident we’d have a co-op and the homes will remain in the community.”
The LCA petition to the City of Edinburgh Council says:
Over 200 tenants in Lorne Street, Leith are facing eviction by the Agnes Hunter Trust, a charitable trust that owns over 100 flats in Lorne Street. The trust was established in 1954 by Miss Agnes Hunter. The properties were built by her father in the 1870ties and since then have been let by the Hunter family to the people of Leith. Miss Hunter herself lived for many years in Leith until she died in 1954.
The properties and the income received from its tenants have always built the core of the charity. The trust informed all tenants on 11 June 2015 that it decided to dispose all of its properties within 3-4 years to re-invest the income from the sale of the properties and with a view to increasing the amount available for distribution to charities.
The tenants with the support from MP Deidre Brock, MSP Malcolm Chisholm, Councillors Nick Gardner, Angela Blacklock and Cammy Day asked the trustees to put the evictions on hold for 12 months in order to set up a housing co-op with the support of the council but that request was denied and only a 4 months period was granted which will only be extended if we can agree with the landlord on a valuation basis for the property portfolio by then.
We kindly ask that the City of Edinburgh Council does everything possible within its powers, including financial support, to support the tenants to save the community and to set up a housing co-op.
As word spreads about their plight LCA’s organisers are confident that more and more people will support their plan – they delighted with response to their petition so far.
Hanover Scotland secures £40m in first-of-it’s-kind deal
Hanover Scotland has secured a £40m funding facility in an innovative agreement which is the first of its kind in the social housing sector. The transaction, which combines a linked revolving credit facility and private placement, was arranged by Bank of Scotland.
The funding will be used to support the ongoing development plans of Hanover, which manages 5,000 properties on 200 developments across Scotland, with a particular focus on housing for older people. Hanover’s business plan includes a goal of building at least 40 new units each year.
It has secured a new five-year, £20m revolving credit facility (RCF) from Bank of Scotland, with whom it has had a relationship for almost 20 years.
At the same time, the housing association has also agreed a £20m private placement, funded by an institutional investor. This finance, which will be drawn down in 2018 and mature in 2048, will be used to repay the RCF, which will itself be adjusted to £5m in 2018.
The structure of the facility is the first of its kind in the social housing sector as the RCF and private placement are formally linked and share the same security. Meanwhile, the mix of short-term funding from the RCF combined with a longer-dated private placement provides Hanover with a flexible finance package tailored to its ongoing needs.
Helen Murdoch, Chief Executive of Hanover Scotland, (pictured above) said: “The versatility of the structured borrowing fully meets our planning requirements. Hanover has an established history in providing high quality affordable housing for the elderly and this funding will enable us to continue to meet our ambitions to provide much needed new homes.
It is clear that Bank of Scotland fully understand our sector. We believe that our arrangement provides good value for money for our existing and future residents, which is extremely important and is our ultimate goal.”
The RCF was arranged by Bank of Scotland’s dedicated social housing team, while the private placement was handled by the bank’s debt capital markets team.
Marc Ward, relationship manager in the social housing team at Bank of Scotland, said: “This is a tailored, innovative solution which meets the long-term funding needs of Hanover Scotland while also providing short-term liquidity to support its development goals. We believe the structure – combining a conventional revolving credit facility with a private placement – is the first of its kind in the sector.
“Meanwhile, the dual role on this transaction played by our sector-focussed social housing team and our colleagues in debt capital markets demonstrates the breadth of our offering to clients.
“These are transformative times for housing associations as the funding environment continues to shift around them. This deal, which includes securing funding from a blue-chip institutional investor, underlines that the investment community continues to place great value on the social housing sector and the crucial role it plays in the UK.”
Hanover was founded in 1979 and is today Scotland’s leading housing association for older people, with local developments in Stockbridge and Trinity. Its head office is in MacDonald Road and it also has offices in Glasgow and Elgin.
Tonight we host the A.G.M of Muirhouse Housing association in our large hall at Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre (writes James McGinty)
The following invite comes from the Housing Association Website:
Our A.G.M is just around the corner. It will be held on Monday 28 September at 6.30pm at the Muirhouse Millennium Centre. Light refreshments will be served.
The main purpose of the meeting is to present the annual accounts and future plans for the Association. We will also be announcing the winners of the ‘Good Neighbour’ and ‘Best Garden’ contest and all attendees have a chance to win a price.
