frank ward
26-Oct-06, 17:11
The planned switch of Highland council houses to a new housing association is being pushed with the promise that 'local' associations will eventusally take over local estates. Here is a warning, just sent to me in a circular:
HOMES TRANSFER WILL COST £500 MILLION
Glasgow Herald
26th October 2006
Splitting up Glasgow Housing Association would cost more than half a billion pounds, a new report has revealed.
Consultants hired by the social landlord, Scotland's biggest, have raised serious doubts about the affordability of the body's break-up, a core plank of executive housing policy.
A report from Deloittes and DTZ details a funding gap of £507.3m that will need to be filled before GHA can be broken up in a process called second-stage transfer.
That would make the black hole in Glasgow housing finances - the subject of intense speculation for some years - greater than the cost of building the Scottish Parliament.
The consultants' report, which has already sent shockwaves through GHA and its potential successors, is set to go before the landlord's ruling board tomorrow.
Its message is blunt. "Second-stage transfer," a copy seen by The Herald says, "cannot be achieved within the existing financial envelope."
Essentially, consultants argue it would cost 63 small successor housing associations half a billion pounds more to deliver the same work currently being carried out by the bigger GHA.
They are not saying there is any threat to existing investment plans. They are saying the same plans, and other spending commitments, would cost more if they were delivered by 63 organisations rather than one.
Breaking GHA up into a more manageable number of units would also cost hundreds of millions, the consultants said.
The report comes amid an increasingly bitter row over the future of GHA. The landlord itself has argued it has not been funded to break itself up.
Its critics, including at least one cabinet minister and several senior Glasgow housing figures, have questioned GHA's leadership's commitment to second-stage transfer.
Five community-based housing associations yesterday formally bid to break away from GHA by presenting Communities Scotland, the housing watchdog, with their own go-it-alone business plans. The row - and other discontent about Glasgow's stock transfer - has cast a shadow over ballots for similar moves elsewhere in Scotland. Tenants in Edinburgh, Stirling and Renfrewshire have voted against stock transfers, partly, critics say, because of Glasgow's troubles. This is disputed by GHA.
The association last night said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the figures in the consultants' report.
Its tenant chairwoman, Sandra Forsythe, said: "GHA has undertaken several analyses over the past two years into the many and complex financial issues surrounding second-stage transfer (SST), the most recent of which determines the cost of SST from the purchasers' perspective and was carried out by Deloittes and DTZ.
Nationalist MSP Alex Neil, however, said the report's figures showed SST was now a "disaster".
He said: "It is now clear that the promises of SST cannot be delivered without significant additional funding from the executive. The executive must now own up to the fact they have made a complete mess of this policy from day one."
Not everybody, however, is convinced by the consultants' figures.
Fraser Stewart of New Gorbals Housing Association, one of the many community-based landlords eager to get its hands on some of GHA's stock - and tenants - questioned the scale of the costs.
He said: "Nobody trusts the GHA figures and nobody can get to the bottom of their assumptions."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive suggested SST was still on the agenda.
He said: "This report, commissioned by GHA and working to a remit set by them, is one of several in recent years which has estimated potential costs of second-stage transfer based on a variety of hypothetical models and timescales.
"The executive and all parties involved remain committed to delivering SST.
"There are some complex financial issues because delivering SST is unprecedented. But we have seen nothing yet that convinces us that SST cannot be achieved."
The Glasgow row was supposed to be thrashed out by
a special ministerial group chaired by Johann Lamont, the deputy communities minister. The group's report, expected in August or September, is now overdue.
HOMES TRANSFER WILL COST £500 MILLION
Glasgow Herald
26th October 2006
Splitting up Glasgow Housing Association would cost more than half a billion pounds, a new report has revealed.
Consultants hired by the social landlord, Scotland's biggest, have raised serious doubts about the affordability of the body's break-up, a core plank of executive housing policy.
A report from Deloittes and DTZ details a funding gap of £507.3m that will need to be filled before GHA can be broken up in a process called second-stage transfer.
That would make the black hole in Glasgow housing finances - the subject of intense speculation for some years - greater than the cost of building the Scottish Parliament.
The consultants' report, which has already sent shockwaves through GHA and its potential successors, is set to go before the landlord's ruling board tomorrow.
Its message is blunt. "Second-stage transfer," a copy seen by The Herald says, "cannot be achieved within the existing financial envelope."
Essentially, consultants argue it would cost 63 small successor housing associations half a billion pounds more to deliver the same work currently being carried out by the bigger GHA.
They are not saying there is any threat to existing investment plans. They are saying the same plans, and other spending commitments, would cost more if they were delivered by 63 organisations rather than one.
Breaking GHA up into a more manageable number of units would also cost hundreds of millions, the consultants said.
The report comes amid an increasingly bitter row over the future of GHA. The landlord itself has argued it has not been funded to break itself up.
Its critics, including at least one cabinet minister and several senior Glasgow housing figures, have questioned GHA's leadership's commitment to second-stage transfer.
Five community-based housing associations yesterday formally bid to break away from GHA by presenting Communities Scotland, the housing watchdog, with their own go-it-alone business plans. The row - and other discontent about Glasgow's stock transfer - has cast a shadow over ballots for similar moves elsewhere in Scotland. Tenants in Edinburgh, Stirling and Renfrewshire have voted against stock transfers, partly, critics say, because of Glasgow's troubles. This is disputed by GHA.
The association last night said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the figures in the consultants' report.
Its tenant chairwoman, Sandra Forsythe, said: "GHA has undertaken several analyses over the past two years into the many and complex financial issues surrounding second-stage transfer (SST), the most recent of which determines the cost of SST from the purchasers' perspective and was carried out by Deloittes and DTZ.
Nationalist MSP Alex Neil, however, said the report's figures showed SST was now a "disaster".
He said: "It is now clear that the promises of SST cannot be delivered without significant additional funding from the executive. The executive must now own up to the fact they have made a complete mess of this policy from day one."
Not everybody, however, is convinced by the consultants' figures.
Fraser Stewart of New Gorbals Housing Association, one of the many community-based landlords eager to get its hands on some of GHA's stock - and tenants - questioned the scale of the costs.
He said: "Nobody trusts the GHA figures and nobody can get to the bottom of their assumptions."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive suggested SST was still on the agenda.
He said: "This report, commissioned by GHA and working to a remit set by them, is one of several in recent years which has estimated potential costs of second-stage transfer based on a variety of hypothetical models and timescales.
"The executive and all parties involved remain committed to delivering SST.
"There are some complex financial issues because delivering SST is unprecedented. But we have seen nothing yet that convinces us that SST cannot be achieved."
The Glasgow row was supposed to be thrashed out by
a special ministerial group chaired by Johann Lamont, the deputy communities minister. The group's report, expected in August or September, is now overdue.