In the Scottish Government’s reshuffle announced earlier this week, a new Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government was appointed. Living Rent welcomes Shona Robison and bids farewell to Kevin Stewart. We take a look at the last Housing Minister’s last year and the challenge ahead.   Continue reading

On Thursday 25th March, Living Rent members went to the Wheatley Group fancy offices in the city centre with a clear message to Glasgow Housing Association: FREEZE RENTS NOW! Continue reading

New research published at the University of Manchester with Ethical Consumer magazine explores how ‘astroturf’ movements of landlords have been set up all over the world to fend off threats to Airbnb’s business model. The company hired hundreds of "community organisers" since 2014 to set up over 400 ‘Home Sharing Clubs’ in cities all over the world, including in the UK. You can read this important report here, as it outlines how companies use so-called grassroots movements to pursue back room deals and undermine our movement and demands for a city that puts residents and tenants first.   Continue reading

Like the earth rotates on its axis, and tupperware loses its lid, our rents increase year on year. Rent rises seem like a law of nature. But they aren’t. The system that makes people pay a large proportion of their income to rent is made and maintained by people and organisations that could, and should, act differently. Particularly in a pandemic, which has churned up lives and livelihoods like a long, savage, yet monotonous, storm. We need rent freezes in social and public housing.  Continue reading

On Wednesday 17th March, Living Rent members took action to mark one year since over a hundred libraries, gyms, community centres and other local services in Glasgow were closed. Continue reading

Across Scotland, we have seen over 66 000 public homes being demolished, leaving large vacant land sites like gapping holes throughout our communities. Despite the housing crisis that Scotland faces, neighbourhood branch after branch sees these plots being prioritised for buy-to-let and luxury developments, in an ongoing attempt by city planners to 'mix' our communities, bringing in more expensive housing instead of the genuinely affordable homes we need.This is why across Glasgow, members are rising up to fight for this land to be prioritised for social and public housing, built to the highest environmental standards and reflecting our needs and vision. Continue reading

Refurbishment - making our homes more energy efficient - presents a huge and 'shovel' ready opportunity for Scotland to tackle fuel poverty as well as the health impacts related to poor housing conditions, whilst taking head on the combined threats of climate change and the economic crises resulting from the global pandemic and Brexit.Several branches of Living Rent are taking this challenge head on: asking for the total refurbishment of their blocks, the changing of drafty windows and the implementation of district heating schemes. This is also a key challenge of private sector homes and as Scotland prepares to host COP 26, members throughout Scotland are organising to get the government to commit to ambitious refurbishment targets, in order to deliver the homes Scotland needs. Continue reading

  Living Rent's national campaign against the rent hikes in social housing reaches national television. Councils and housing associations, are you listenening? Don't accept the increase. Be heard. Fill out the consultation. livingrent.org/freeze_rents   Continue reading

During the pandemic, members and tenants have been at the forefront of fighting against evictions and ensuring that no one would be made homeless in the midst of a pandemic. Members first won the first eviction ban in Scotland's history in March 2020. Since, we have been organising up and down the country to get these protections extended. From September 2020 until March 2021, members supported each other when threatened with eviction, won a further ban of evictions from the 9th of December and managed to get it extend in January 2021 and then again in March 2021 to ensure that no tenants would evicted during a pandemic. Continue reading