News / Isles need to sort housing debts
SHETLAND’s massive housing debt continues to be the stumbling block in attracting new funding to help pay for new affordable homes to the isles.
On Thursday, the Scottish government told a five strong delegation from the isles that Shetland’s housing debt of currently £45 million was a major concern and were considered as too high a risk to release further funds.
Three councillors and two senior officials met with housing minister Alex Neil after the government had declined a £4.3 million bid to help funding a £20 million council house building programme in the isles.
Yesterday (Friday), Shetland Islands Council’s housing spokesman Allison Duncan said the minister wanted the housing debt problem addressed first before considering any new bid for housing cash.
Council officials will now meet with civil servants from the government in Aberdeen next week to hammer out a strategy how to deal with the local authority’s housing debts.
The debts, which at some stage were as high as £60 million, were accumulated in the 70s when the council embarked on a massive house building programme to accommodate the influx of oil workers.
Attempts to have these debts written off by transferring the isles’ council house stock to a housing association failed in the early part of this decade when the majority of tenants voted to stay with the local authority.
Yesterday, Mr Duncan said the minister seemed keen to help Shetland sorting this problem and to allow the isles to bid for a share of £25 million of additional funding the government had just made available.
“If we are going down the route the minister has advised us and are drawing up a housing debt strategy together with his advisors, then I am sure we will get some solution to the problem.
“We would be looking for a share of the £25 million of funding he made public last week,” he said.
Closing date for bids to tranche of funding is the end of April meaning that local and national officials will have to work to an extremely tight deadline in drawing up the housing debt strategy.
A further meeting with the Scottish government is planned next month.
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