HOUSING: GREENS SAY LABOUR PROPOSAL LACKS AMBITION
Responding to a proposal by the Labour party to build 12,000 houses per year over five years, Maggie Chapman, housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP candidate for the North-east, said:
"Labour's housing proposal shows their desire to do the right thing is fatally undermined by their lack of imagination and links to big business. It also shows the need for a bolder Holyrood with more Green voices. There is a housing crisis in Scotland and the 12,000 homes a year proposed by Labour don't come close to the number of new houses Shelter say we need to meet demand.
"At a time when bad landlords are profiteering more every year Scottish Greens successfully pushed for rent controls to be included in the Housing Bill currently going through Parliament. Such controls are vital to help the many people who find themselves unable to afford to buy a house. We have called for regulation of dodgy letting agents. And our plans to tax derelict and vacant land would raise between £200m and £300m which could be invested in new social housing.
"Scotland can provide warm, affordable homes for all but we must scale up our ambition."