A leading housing association figure in Angus has prompted an angry response after challenging a senior councillor over his reaction to the area’s place at the top of a national evictions league.
Following the release by housing charity Shelter Scotland of figures revealing Angus evictions have jumped 121% in the last four years, housing convener Jim Millar described the document as a ”hand-wringing, simplistic” report, bearing no relation to the challenges facing local authorities in providing homes or the Angus approach of support and enforcement (link).
But Mr Millar’s comments have now been criticised by Angus Housing Association director Bruce Forbes as a ”silly” reaction to the Shelter research.
”Mr Millar rightly commended the excellent advice on benefits his council gives its tenants in an effort to prevent evictions,” said Mr Forbes. ”At the same time, however, the Conservative party he represents is the leading advocate at Westminster of the coalition government’s proposals to cut the income of the poorest families throughout Scotland as part of their welfare reform agenda.
”The families who will suffer include many already hard-pressed tenants of Angus Council and Angus Housing Association who are likely to move from currently struggling to pay their rent into the category of being actually unable to afford to pay their rent,” added Mr Forbes.
”This massive challenge and indeed, threat, ahead to all tenants in Angus has not yet, however, been considered to be of sufficient importance to warrant public criticism, comment or concern from Councillor Millar in his role as Angus Council housing spokesperson, despite almost universal opposition to the proposals from Scottish social housing experts.”
Mr Forbes continued: ”Ignoring these contradictions, Councillor Millar is, however, minded to make an intemperate rebuttal of Shelter for daring to criticise Angus Council’s record on evictions over the past four years. The facts in the Shelter report on evictions speak for themselves. The figures quoted in the report are those provided by the council itself to the Scottish Government.”
Mr Forbes said it was ”crystal clear” the social impact and the costs to the public purse of dealing with the consequences of eviction far outweigh the cost of prevention.
He added: ”Having worked in housing for 33 years, I cannot agree with Shelter’s position that evictions are never warranted. Very occasionally, it is the only solution available to a landlord.
”In any such cases, however, I think we should all respect the work that Shelter and others do to give tenants a proper legal defence that they are surely entitled to when their home is under threat.
”I hope that Councillor Millar also accepts this principle of protecting tenants’ rights to security of tenure and proper legal representation ” and that Shelter would have been fundamentally failing in its duty not to point out the record of Angus Council as the worst performing landlord in Scotland in this key area of reducing the use of eviction as a tool of housing management.
”Rather, therefore, than responding with silly points about the costs of Shelter’s lawyers and Shelter not building any houses, I would further respectfully propose that Councillor Millar would do better to acknowledge their criticism and engage with Shelter in their advocacy role in the much-needed debate on this very complex issue.”
He said Mr Millar might try to bring the council ”in step” with other social landlords’ views on eviction ”as a failure on the part of the landlord as much as the tenant.”’A dog chasing cars’But after hearing of Mr Forbes’ intervention, Mr Millar issued strong criticism of the housing association chief’s comments.
He said: ”I have always been fascinated by the running critique Mr Forbes ventures on any injustice that cares to motivate him. His pursuit of Angus Council is done with the unwavering enthusiasm of a dog chasing cars. Never has the maxim ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good argument’ rung more true.
”During my time as convener of Angus Council’s neighbourhood services committee I have directly overseen a significant reduction in rent arrears and a tenancy sustainment rate which places Angus Council in the top quartile of its local government peers, alongside a financial viability that means it is now Angus Council who are the main builder of new affordable homes for rent in the county.
”It is these statistics which our tenants are interested in they know we are trying everything we can to reduce rent arrears. What is more important to many are the new affordable homes we build for rent, such as the new family homes just open in Carnoustie or the ones soon to be opened in Arbroath,” Mr Millar added.
”It is our tenants who I take my values from and not those who can only fling mud from afar in his case, not so far.
”It is, of course, almost impossible to intelligently compare the performance of Angus Council and Angus Housing Association, despite the best and continuing efforts of those who never let the facts get in the way of their argument.
”Angus Council currently prioritises the homelessness and vulnerability agenda. Recent Shelter press releases show that, so we must be doing something right. We are year on year the council who backs its commitment to this agenda with action.
”I am sure when Angus Housing Association finally joins the Common Housing Register and Common Allocation Policy, they too will rapidly match our current performance of 60% of allocations to statutorily homelessness clients.
”As for Mr Forbes’ agenda shift to welfare reform, it is once again a sleight of hand to detract from the reality of a difficult situation exacerbated by policy decisions his housing association have taken on allocations which will place his tenants at possible financial risk as a result of the national policy reforms on use of bedrooms.
”The guidelines on the age restrictions for bedrooms were written long before the current UK Government began its much-needed reforms on an out-of-control welfare state.
”Mr Forbes should perhaps reflect on the role his association has played in choosing to ignore those guidelines and the consequent financial pressure his association’s generosity will place upon some of his tenants.
”Unless, of course, his association wants the state to continue to pay for more than it needs?
”For Mr Forbes to bring politics into a blinkered and unbalanced press release, from a national lobbying organisation simply playing out its own negative stereotype, has so clearly missed the point but over my time as convenor that is what I have come to expect,” Mr Millar said.