In response to the announcement of the suspension in North Lanarkshire of the Right to Buy, Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity said:

“We support the decision to grant Pressured Area Status to areas of North Lanarkshire (1). There’s no doubt that the Right to Buy has been popular - but this has been at the expense of local authorities that are now struggling to meet housing need and people who aren’t able to get off the house waiting lists.

“Pressured Areas Status is currently one of the few tools available to local authorities to limit the continuing sale of council houses in areas of short supply. However we commend the Scottish Government’s reforms of this outdated policy so far and support their proposals to introduce legislation to end the Right to Buy for all new-build social housing.

"With increasing pressure on affordable housing and the 2012 homelessness target to meet, Scotland desperately needs to keep and add to its stock of affordable rented housing.”



Notes to editors -

1. Scottish Government press release, Housing Access in North Lanarkshire: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/02/05110001
2. For more on local housing facts visit: www.shelter.org.uk/housingfacts