Greens call for tax relief on housing coops
It’s time to take power and wealth from developers and landlords and put it back into communities by boosting cooperative housing, says Scottish Green MSP Ariane Burgess.
Ariane is calling for tax exemptions and relief for housing coops to make it easier for them to set-up and expand to increase housing options for people and families struggling with the broken housing market.
Coop housing can allow tenants to collectively control and manage their rented housing, often with notably lower rents.
By removing Land & Building Transactions Tax and Additional Dwelling Supplements from these residences, Scotland can help to alleviate the housing emergency and redistribute wealth.
Scotland is lagging behind England and Wales on this, where laws already grant tax exemptions to all forms of housing coop.
Ariane said:
“Coops have an important role to play in offering alternatives to a broken private market that is hammering too many families with sky-high bills and costs.
“Coops give people more control of their lives and the roof over their head by taking power away from developers and landlords.
“We need to grow the sector, but that won’t happen by itself. At the moment it is cost-prohibitive, with providers having to compete with giant developers.
“By lowering the cost for coops that are setting up or expanding we can make it a far more viable option for renters who are being priced out of their communities.
“Everyone should be able to live in a safe and secure community and that’s exactly what coops encourage. I hope that the Scottish Government will back my amendment and that we will see coop housing flourishing in Scotland.”