| Dr Sarah Glynn of Edinburgh University, who is based in Dundee and has conducted major research into the city’s housing provision, said the council’s housing policy was “terrifying.”
She said that while almost 10,000 people are on the council house, there could be a hidden population put off from coming forward because they feel it would be futile.
“It’s an absolute mess,” said Dr Glynn, who branded the strategy of demolitions as “not the solution”.
“The council are saying there are only 2000 individuals in need of mainstream housing in the city — well, that’s 2000 too many.
“The big problem behind all this is the council has based its policy on the idea that council housing should only be made available for people who absolutely can’t afford housing in the private sector and also that the backlog of housing needs would only be met at the rate of 10% a year.
“That’s how they have come up with this idea they don’t need much housing and I find both those assumptions absolutely terrifying.”
Dr Glynn said research had “painstakingly” shown that housing convener George Regan’s assessment they were demolishing houses that nobody wanted was not true.
“We worked with tenants in Derby Street and Menzieshill during our research, which showed that it was far from true that people didn’t want to stay in these buildings,” he said.
“In Derby Street, 71% of people wanted to stay yet they repeat that people want out.
“Of course, these houses are not suitable for families but they are highly suitable for couples without children.
“We’ve also got things like the hidden problem of elderly and disabled people who are stuck in upper floor tenements and can’t manage the stairs.
“At the same time we’ve got level entry flats lying empty in Menzieshill because they are trying to empty out the building.
“I’m sure there are people who know there is a huge list and just haven’t come forward.
“There will be people who look at that list and think, ‘well, there’s no way I’ll get an adequate house,’ so yes, there’s a hidden population, but I couldn’t put a figure on it.”
Dr Glynn said the council had allowed the buildings to become rundown and there were different people that could be blamed — but she stated it wasn’t just a local problem.
“Foggyley which was knocked down recently was really rundown yet the identical buildings in Dryburgh are really popular,” she said.
“So you can’t blame the buildings — it’s the maintenance. It isn’t just a local crisis though — it’s a national one and part of a deliberate policy at Westminister and Holyrood to reduce social housing.
“I wouldn’t be too optimistic that things are going to improve in Dundee.
“There has been a lot of discussion about the right to buy and rightly so, but we are still losing 200 homes a year to right to buy — so if they are building 200 extra homes a year that will just level it off.
“We will be no further forward.” |
