Rent controls must not be watered down in the upcoming Housing Bill.
Whenever I am out talking with people in Glasgow about their priorities for our city, decent, affordable housing consistently comes out on top.
For a lot of tenants, the last few years have seen living costs soaring while salaries have flatlined, making it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
One of the most important steps we can deliver is a permanent system of rent controls.
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It is a call that has received overwhelming support in recent polls, and there’s clear evidence that it would have huge benefits not only for people’s pockets, but for mental health and wellbeing too.
Rent controls are not a new idea.
They have existed in the UK before and are commonplace in European cities.
Take Vienna, which was recognised as the most liveable city three years in a row, and also has a comprehensive rent control system in place.
Affordable, stable homes are the bedrock of a happy and healthy society, yet rents in Glasgow have increased by 86% since 2010, with Scottish Government figures showing homeless applications at the highest level in 12 years.
However, instead of affordable homes, we are seeing expensive build-to-rent developments popping up all around our city.
There have been some half-hearted attempts to fix the problem, but they have not gone far enough. So-called Rent Pressure Zones were introduced in 2016. These were supposed to end sky-high rents in the places where the problem was most serious, but the system that was introduced was unworkable.
It’s crucial that we don’t make this same mistake twice.
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We must not play into the idea that the housing crisis we are seeing across Scotland has been a sudden shock to a perfect system.
In reality, pressure has been building for over a decade.
The housing market is broken and needs fundamental change.
It’s a problem I know well.
I’ve had my own experiences of harassment from disreputable landlords, and I understand the stress, anxiety and uncertainty that it can bring.
My hope is that we can offer stability for people across our city and beyond.
Renters’ rights will always be a top priority for the Scottish Greens.
When we were in Government, we introduced emergency legislation to introduce a ground-breaking rent cap and protections that went far beyond anything that has happened in any other part of the UK.
This protected thousands of tenants, households and families and gave them greater security and peace of mind.
This was hugely important in supporting tenants on the frontline of the housing crisis, but it also underlined the urgent and growing need for permanent legislation.
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That is why tenants’ rights were at the heart of the Housing Bill that I introduced as a Minister in March.
However, with the end of the cooperation agreement that put the Scottish Greens in government, a lot of us are worried that the protections could be watered down.
I remember how controversial the temporary rent freeze was, and I’m in no doubt that there will be many in the landlord lobby working to dilute what’s in the Bill.
The devil will be in the detail, and we must ensure that our councils have the power to designate entire local authority areas as a rent control area, and that we ensure that rent controls are linked to to property rather than to a tenancy to avoid a postcode lottery and prevent rents from spiralling between tenancies.
All political parties agree that Scotland is experiencing a housing emergency, but words are the easy part.
MSPs are not elected just to diagnose problems, we have to take action to fix them.
Our Parliament has the chance to introduce progressive rent controls that tenants are crying out for. We must seize this opportunity.
A backwards step would be a disaster for tenants, and my Green colleagues and I will be working with campaigners and residents to ensure it doesn’t happen and that human need comes ahead of profiteering.
A robust Housing Bill is something that all progressive voices and parties should be able to unite around and work constructively to deliver.
Together, we can send a loud and clear message that our parliament supports tenants and that we will stand up to those who are trying to entrench a broken status quo.
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