“Tenants were already being driven into poverty by unaffordable rents before the pandemic, but the situation is now beyond repair, and we need to undo the damage that has already been done before we start to talk about stabilising things.”
rent controls
“What we have learned over the past year is that the planet can be thrown into an upheaval without precedent, and the renter’s lot will remain an unchanging, unloved constant.”
Sean Bell: If the pandemic couldn’t break the stranglehold of landlords on Scotland, what will?
“The means to bring about change and speed up progress here at home in Scotland are already available to each and everyone of us. It’s high time to remind ourselves what they are.”
The Pressure series: Applying pressure in Scotland
“Generally, if you wish to be progressive, then you don’t give all your tight public finances to corporations. The words ‘public’ and ‘ownership’ do not appear in the same sentence in this report. There is little which will be substantially different from what I expect from the UK Government in the same poicy fields – and that is a worry.”
Programme for Government: who benefits as the government runs out of steam?
Nicola Sturgeon announced that the eviction ban in Scotland is to be extended until March 2021, however there have been 350 eviction orders applied for already, with many more expected.
Evictions Ban Extended, but Renters Still Left Unprotected
“I say directly to the Scottish Parliament and especially to the SNP MSPs, we haven’t forgotten your promises of 2016. We haven’t forgotten that you identified the rising cost of rent as a problem and then fobbed it off every step of the way. We haven’t forgotten and we are angry.”
‘Angry and growing’: Renters union say they will increase pressure for justice
“Will these polling results resemble the eventual makeup of Holyrood in 2021? Mibbes aye, mibbes naw. Will continuous and verifiable majority support for independence lead to a second referendum on the national question? Could be – but nobody’s quite sure how.”
Sean Bell: Polls, pundits and the perils of heeding the loudest voices
“The latest side-stepping of protections for tenants comes at a time when they are suffering through the lockdown economy.”
Analysis: Rentier Parliament? How Scots’ demands for fairer rents were locked-out
With few protections being given to renters since the Covid-19 crisis hit, and record job and income loss, a high burden is being placed on the shoulders of renters.
Evictions: The Second Wave of the Covid-19 Crisis
It is a grim irony that on the day it was announced that Heriot-Watt University had removed the Salmond “rocks will melt with the sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scotland’s students” stone, the Scottish Parliament had one of its most dire day’s on historical record. Many university Principals are now […]