IT was with interest that I followed the correspondence over the last 10 days or so concerning Glasgow City Council's proposal to transfer its housing stock to a housing company. The letter from Mr Hoy, of Scottish Homes, was of particular interest (October 27). He painted a rather misleading picture of tenants rushing to transfer to alternative landlords and into a brighter future.
My experience, and that of other Scottish Homes tenants, is that the tenants have only voted to transfer after being bombarded by literature telling them that Scottish Homes will not be making the same levels of investment in their houses, repairs may take longer, and in any event they, Scottish Homes, have decided they no longer wish to be landlord.
Recent events in the Windlaw area of Castlemilk in Glasgow serve to illustrate these points. One year after tenants in Windlaw rejected a local housing association and opted to keep Scottish Homes as their landlord, the following has happened.
1. Our ''local'' housing office is no longer in Castlemilk, but Parkhead.
2. Scottish Homes newsletters have been issued to all tenants urging them to transfer, through the individual ''Tenants' Choice'' legislation, to the housing association previously rejected by tenants.
3. Tenants have been forced to agree to a ''partnership'' approach involving Scottish Homes and the aforementioned housing association. One aspect of this ''partnership'' will see public-sector houses transferring with no ballot.
4. All tenants in Windlaw have been informed by Scottish Homes that by the year 2001 they will no longer be a landlord and management of the houses will be handed over to an unnamed organisation.
I would suggest that these actions are not those of a landlord interested in its tenants, but it is instead driven by its own agenda. Stock transfers are not tenant-led, but Scottish Homes-led.
As far as Glasgow City Council is concerned, I urge them not to use Scottish Homes as a model of good practice should their proposal go ahead. I also urge council tenants' organisations to contact their Scottish Homes counterparts as there will be experiences to share and lessons to learn from.
H Donegan,
Secretary, Windlaw Scottish Homes
Tenants Action Group,
4 Stravanan Road, Glasgow.
November 4.
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