Common Weal

A comprehensive toolkit of policies and actions providing a roadmap towards land reform in Scotland have been outlined in a new report published today by the New Economics Foundation and the Common Weal think tank.

Scotland’s local authorities could build an unlimited number of homes for social rent on a zero-subsidy basis under proposals outlined by the think tank Common Weal.

Campaigners are calling on the Scottish Government to support major changes to prevent tenants being “forced into poverty by sky-high rents” after a survey pointed towards huge public support for the action. Excluding respondents who said they don’t know, three-quarters of Scots sa

Scotland's "unworkable" Rent Pressure Zones should be urgently replaced with a system of "proper rent controls", according to a new report. The Rent Controls Scotland Needs is set to be launched in Glasgow tomorrow by Living Rent, Scotland's tenants' union, in conjunction with "think-and-do tank" Co

Political parties must reverse cuts to local authority budgets and understand the barriers which are preventing housing delivery if they are to fully address Scotland’s housing demand, according to Homes for Scotland. On a visit to Parkhead Housing Association yesterday, Scottish Labour leader Ric

Scotland’s short-term rental sector generates £723 million of economic activity every year, a new report has claimed. According to findings compiled by data research organisation Frontline on behalf of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC), the sector supports 15,000 FTE jobs in Sc

A think-tank has urged the Scottish Government to end Help to Buy subsidies after it was revealed that three executives at housebuilder Persimmon were paid in excess of £100 million last year in a bonuses scheme linked to the policy. An annual report published by Persimmon revealed that chief execu

Critics of the Scottish Help to Buy scheme have called for the policy to be scrapped after an investigation revealed just three high volume housebuilders have received around £189 million in subsidised mortgages between them. Freedom of information (FOI) data obtained by investigatory journalism pl

A think-tank and advocacy group has called for a “complete overhaul” of the Scottish Government’s approach to housing after “damning” findings revealed that rising housing costs for the poorest Scots since devolution has become a key impediment to reducing poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foun

Concerns have been raised that more people could lose their homes after the cost of a typical two-bed private rental property rose by 4.4% in the last year. Nationally the average rent on a two-bed property is £643 this year up from £616 in 2016 and the charity says that people will struggle to co

Ben Wray After Homes for Scotland moved to clarify claims it was “anti social housing” for calling for a wider focus on housebuilding in Scotland, Ben Wray from think-tank Common Weal provides his own reaction.

Ben Wray Homes for Scotland’s view that a focus on affordable and social housing is exacerbating Scotland’s housing crisis and fails to grasp the commercial realities of development is “out of touch with reality” and must be “rejected outright” by the Scottish Government, according to a

A Build to Rent scheme currently being delivered in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh Housing minister Kevin Stewart has announced the launch of the UK’s first Rental Income Guarantee Scheme (RIGS) to support investment in private rented housing.

The private rented sector (PRS) has tripled in size since the advent of devolution and its reversal is a goal that Holyrood should “triumph not fear”, a new report has argued. New data on the experience of households in Scotland analysed by think tank Common Weal has revealed that the PRS contin

A group of 24 Scottish charities have come together to urge the UK government to stop the roll-out of the Universal Credit system in Scotland. A major change the benefits system, Universal Credit replaces six existing benefits with one, and is designed to make the benefits process easier. The govern