THE private rented sector continues to lag well behind social housing for security, affordability and quality, a new report from a think tank has found.
The study by Common Weal used data from the Scottish Household Survey 2016, published by the Scottish Government at the end of September, to draw comparisons between the two.
It argues the trend towards privatisation must be reversed if housing problems such as insecurity and unaffordability are to be tackled.
The think tank suggests this could be done through a combination of strengthening and increasing the diversity of social housing and establishing a regulatory regime for the private sector that puts it on “at least a level playing field”.
Its report found that private renting was “uniquely insecure”, with more than two-thirds of people staying less than two years in one flat and around 40 per cent staying less than one year.
The average stay is 2.8 years, compared to 10.6 years in social housing.
Only one in five private tenants had a very strong connection to their neighbourhood, compared to a third in social housing.
Private homes also had lower energy efficiency levels than social housing — a key driver of fuel poverty — with only one third in the private sector meeting a key efficiency rating target.
Meanwhile, there is significant demand within the private rented sector for moving to social housing.
Around 40,000 people in privately rented homes are on a social housing waiting list — the equivalent of one in 10.
Almost a third are on the waiting list because they cannot afford their current housing, while 11 per cent are on because they have been threatened with homelessness.
The paper was published ahead of a Common Weal convention on housing in Glasgow today.
Author Ben Wray said: “Party conference season so far has been full of talk about housing, unsurprisingly after the Grenfell Tower tragedy woke the political class out of their sleepy complacency on the issue.
“In Scotland, we have the powers to rectify the housing crisis now.
“It’s time we made full use of them and ended once and for all Thatcher’s legacy of unequal, unaffordable and insecure housing.
“This report shows that the increasing privatisation of the rental market in Scotland over successive governments since devolution has created intolerable circumstances for many tenants in the private rented sector, who sadly have housing conditions significantly worse than social housing.
“It is time for Scottish politicians to seriously consider policies aimed at reversing the privatisation trend in the rental market, by significantly expanding the size and diversity of social housing and creating a regulatory regime for the private rented sector which enforces security, quality and affordability.”
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