The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has welcomed the Scottish Government acting on its calls to fund cladding remediation measures for social housing providers, as announced this week by the Scottish Government.
Under updated plans that outline steps to ensure Scotland’s buildings are safe from dangerous cladding following the Grenfell tragedy, Cabinet Secretary for Housing Mairi McAllan confirmed that social housing will now be eligible for remediation funding. Previously, social housing providers were not eligible for support with costs, unlike other housing providers.
This meant that housing associations and co-operatives were faced with potentially staggering sums to ensure building safety, which — as not for profit organisations — could only be met through tenant rents.
SFHA Chief Executive Sally Thomas said: “The safety of tenants is absolutely paramount to all of Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives, and they take their responsibility for this extremely seriously.
“For this reason, we’ve been clear that while unsafe cladding must be removed urgently, previous government plans did not provide housing associations with a direct pathway to access government funding for doing so. That meant there was a significant risk that the financial burden would fall on social tenants least able to afford it.
“We are really pleased to see Scottish Government have acted on our calls and changed direction, which means that there is now a funding package which allows any unsafe cladding to be removed as a matter of urgency and covers these costs across all forms of housing. This is a direct result of SFHA and our members working in partnership with Scottish Government as the plan was developed. We will continue to work with government to make sure the work proceeds quickly and efficiently for everyone who lives in an affected home.”
