Instead he urged people to remember the £10bn of private finance that has been invested in the maintenance and improvement of 600,000 transferred homes.
McNulty also made it clear that stock transfer should be seen both as a means of achieving the decent homes standard and as a tool for delivering urban renewal. He added: “Housing transfer is not just about better homes, it’s about better communities.”
McNulty’s speech came as doubts were again expressed over Glasgow’s transfer programme.
A spokesperson for Glasgow council played down reports suggesting leader Charles Gordon had said that transfer should go ahead this year or not at all. He said: “He was merely reiterating the council’s position that the transfer is on course to go ahead before the end of the year.”
Nick Fletcher, policy officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, said that the Scottish Executive would not allow possible unease within Glasgow council to derail the plans for transfer.
He also said that campaigners hoping to delay stock transfer were ignoring tenants’ best interests: “If transfer is delayed until next April it could potentially threaten the £1bn that the Scottish Executive has agreed to pay to clear the council’s housing debt.”
Glasgow MSP Tommy Sheridan said no one in the anti-transfer camp wanted to prevent investment in housing. He said: “It’s now open day to blame everyone else involved in this process instead of the principal parties themselves.”
Source
Housing Today
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