Scottish Housing Organisations unite to oppose Westminster Bill

Seven of Scotland 's national housing organisations have today joined forces to write to all Scottish MPs asking them to oppose the implementation of the Housing Benefit (Withholding of Payments) Bill in Scotland . The Bill, which will be debated in the Commons this Friday (19 th July), proposes that Housing benefit be withdrawn from anti-social tenants for up to a year. It was proposed by Frank Field MP as a Private Members Bill.

The housing sector is concerned that the implementation of this bill will undermine the broad consensus that has been formed around housing policy in Scotland , could lead to increased levels of homelessness and will be ineffective against anti-social behaviour.

Robert Aldridge, SCSH Director, comments:

"The Frank Field proposals cut across the reforms that are being pursued in Scotland . Scotland already has a broader range of sanctions to tackle anti-social behaviour than the rest of the country, and they are better used. The Bill would be expensive to implement and ineffective. It is a dangerous irrelevance for Scotland .

The draconian measures proposed in this bill will damage the approach that has been developed in Scotland . The Bill addresses only one small part of the problem, rather than taking a joined up approach. As a result it is likely to be ineffective and counterproductive. For example, we all know that it is not only tenants who perpetrate anti social behaviour. Nor in a household, is it always the main tenant who is to blame. The amended Bill restricts action only to tenants, and only to the recipient of the housing benefit payment in a household ."

Signatories to the letter (copy available)

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA)
• Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)
• Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (CIH)
• Scottish Council for Single Homeless (SCSH)
• Shelter ( Scotland )
• Tenant Participatory Advisory Service (TPAS)
• Scottish Churches Housing Agency

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Notes

1. The Housing Benefit (Withholding of Payment) Bill was introduced by Frank Field MP in February and will receive its third reading on Friday (19 th July)
2. The Scottish Executive's Homelessness Task Force worked over two and a half year to produce a comprehensive set of recommendations to tackle homelessness in Scotland . The Task Force's recommendations have already resulted in legislation in the Scottish Parliament and a further Bill is due in the autumn. The report by the Task Force was warmly welcomed by all parties in the Scottish Parliament and its recommendations have been endorsed by the Scottish Executive.