A THRIFTY “make do and mend” culture could help solve Scotland’s housing crisis, says a top architect.
Malcolm Fraser claims tens of thousands of empty homes and buildings could easily be patched up and put to good use but were being overlooked because of a “fixation” with new housing.
The award-winning architect said the push towards high-volume, low-quality new builds in the suburbs would not solve a crisis that saw 30,000 people north of the Border assessed as homeless last year.
In a new report, Mr Fraser – whose work includes the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh and Scottish Ballet HQ in Glasgow – calls for an overhaul of housing policy that would force councils to help renew the country’s 34,000 empty homes.
The blueprint would also see a derelict land tax introduced, new compulsory purchase order powers for local authorities and a fresh financing model for the building of public rental housing.
Mr Fraser, who produced his report for the Common Weal think tank, said: “UK housing has suffered from its politicians’ fixation with a single form of home – the mortgage-backed and privately-owned home.
“Not everyone is going to get a mortgage and it is clear the ideological pursuit of this helped poison the world economy, as well as being a key contributor to our current housing crisis.
“Our proposal suggests more care for our existing stock, like the 34,000 long-term empty homes repaired, and more new homes in the heart of our existing communities.”
More than 10,000 Scots live in temporary accommodation and the charity Shelter has warned the country is facing a homelessness crisis.
The Scottish Government-backed Empty Homes Partnership last year managed to get 700 vacant private houses back into use.
Robin McAlpine, Common Weal director, said: “Housing comes up as one of people’s top priorities when they’re asked about what government should be doing.
“But too often the agenda is set by volume housebuilders who simply want permission for more and more low-quality new builds.”
Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership, a lobby group that promotes the country’s residential areas, said: “I believe that this new thinking can deliver a relatively simple but effective solution. Take Kilmarnock. Last year five former town centre retail sites were developed for almost 200 new council homes.”
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