'Scotland should adopt Danish model to housing crisis'

It states that the situation "is not unique to Scotland and that pursuing a developer-led model of house-building has resulted in land banking, restricted housing supply and subsequent price inflation".

And it adds that "every individual has the right to safe and secure housing, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and that having safe, secure, sustainable and affordable accommodation also leads to community, social and health benefits for individuals and their households.

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"Conference notes with interest the examples of other countries such as Denmark where social cooperative housing is far more prevalent than in Scotland," it adds.

"Conference therefore calls for the development of a community-led housing model to help address the current housing crisis, taken inspiration from models such as Denmark's Andelsboliger and adapting best practice to meet the housing needs of the people of Scotland."

The Andelsboliger system is essentially a half-way house between renting and owning in that a person buys a share in the co-op entitling him or her to live in one of the apartments in the development.

When the owners decides to leave, they either sell on to somebody on the co-op's waiting list, or to someone they know in the event that no one is on the waiting for the flat.

However, unlike the free market where any price increases go straight to the vendor's pocket, co-op dwellers cannot set their own asking price.

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Instead, the price is set as a percentage of the value of the entire development and takes account of any outstanding debts the building may have. Vendors are also compensated for substantial improvements, such as a new kitchen or bathroom.

Housing features significantly on the SNP's draft agenda with another resolution calling for the party to see the matter as a "common good."

The motion submitted by the party's West Fife and Coastal Villages branch calls for the Scottish Government to introduce a 'Supplementary Land Tax' which would be imposed on people who own more than one acre of land with the revenue generated to finance a Housing Land Corporation which would owned jointly by Scottish councils and deliver more affordable homes.

The corporation's aims would include:

• increasing the stock of available, warm, secure, affordable homes for social rent, by up to 50,000 per annum, by 2030;

READ MORE: Scottish Government declare national housing emergency

• acquiring and retro-fitting existing properties to increase the availability of housing;

• creating a range of standardised plans, sympathetic to the diverse character of Scottish communities, to help speed up housing development;

• helping people who want to build their own home to do so using a similar model to that used in Germany;

READ MORE: Anger as plans for 7,000 new homes hit by SNP housing law

• ensuring that rural communities are revived and centuries of depopulation reversed as a priority.

Crofters and those using their land exclusively for agriculture would be exempt from the tax.

The motion notes that establishing a Housing Land Corporation (HLC) was a recommendation the party's Social Justice and Fairness Commission and adopted as party policy in 2021.

First Minister John Swinney's government called a national housing emergency in May and ten local authorities including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, Argyll and Bute and West Lothian -  have also made declarations for their areas.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Scottish social justice secretary, said there was a "national housing emergency" because the shortage of homes is now so acute.

She blamed "a decade and a half of Tory austerity" and pledged the Scottish Government to take "firm action with the powers at its disposal".

The declaration by the Scottish Government and by councils have been welcomed by campaigners fighting homelessness who hope the announcements will lead to more action to address the crisis.

However, SNP ministers have been accused by rival political parties of being slow to act.

SNP MSPs voted against a bid by Labour in November last year for a national housing emergency to be declared and the party came under further pressure when in December last year it cut £200m from the affordable housing budget.

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFH) said the cut to affordable housebuilding programme will have ‘devastating’ consequences and warned that the Scottish Government’s target of building 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 would be missed as a result.

Responding to the announcement in the budget at the time, SFHA Chief Executive Sally Thomas said: “Today’s budget is an absolute hammer blow for tackling homelessness and poverty across Scotland and will have long-lasting consequences for the nearly 250,000 people throughout Scotland stuck on a waiting list for a social home, as well as for existing tenants and the housing associations which support them.

“More social homes quite simply mean fewer children growing up in poverty. Over 20,000 children in Scotland are kept out of poverty because of social housing. It is therefore devastating that the First Minister would abandon his defining mission to tackle poverty by failing to support people who need social homes. It is the worst possible budget at the worst possible time.”

Speaking to reporters after her statement to parliament, Finance Secretary Shona Robison blamed the affordable housing cut on a 10% reduction in funding over five years on capital cuts to the Scottish Budget by the UK Government.

In one of his last acts as First Minister Humza Yousaf, during a visit to Dundee in April, announced an extra £80 million for affordable housing over the next two years.

It is not know whether the housing resolutions will be debated at the SNP's conference with the party currently decided on the final agenda for the event, being held from August 30 to September 1 in Edinburgh.