Scottish Government urged to ‘fully commit’ to housing co-ops
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Johann Lamont
The Scottish Government should “fully commit” to housing co-operatives to help tackle Scotland’s housing crisis, opposition MSPs have said.
A recent report from Co-operatives UK highlighted that Scotland has just 11 registered housing co-ops, compared to 685 across the UK, at a time when 150,000 people are on council housing waiting lists.
The Shared spaces report looks at West Whitlawburn Housing Co-op, Edinburgh Student Housing Co-op and Ploughshare Housing Co-op as case studies.
Scottish Labour MSP Johann Lamont raised the report’s findings in the Scottish Parliament and has lodged a motion welcoming the publication of the report.
Speaking afterwards, Ms Lamont said: “The Scottish Government and councils across the country should fully commit to promoting the housing co-op model. Housing co-operatives are not just about bricks and mortar; they are about empowering people.
“Housing providers should not be doing things to tenants - tenants should have a fair say and a role in decisions affecting them and their communities.
“With housing co-operatives, that is what happens – they help build communities by giving people a say in what happens where they live, by sharing power and wealth.”
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