Sunday, January 15, 2006
GHA buries awkward business plan
The Glasgow Housing Association revealed its latest business plan on the 21st of December by sticking it up on a little used neuk on its website, completely unpublicised, and by burying copies in dookets in public libraries across Glasgow unannounced. It did not announce that the document was in existence and had been published and to date none of the Glasgow media have investigated the plans.
Tenants in the Cedar area only found out about it when a friendly housing camapigner alerted us to it.
The plan (which is available at: http://www.gha.org.uk/content/mediaassets/doc/Draft_Business_Plan_0607.pdf) will mean the demolition of 11,000 houses in multis across the city (corresponding to roughly half of all the city's tower blocks) along with a new charge for tenants in tower blocks as well as rent rises and a doubling of the service charge of home owners in years to come.
The plan also stipulates that GHA would like to see 50% of its remaining housing stock transfered to housing associations before the end of the year 2008. Tenants of Queen's Cross are to be balloted on whether or not they want to see their homes be transfered to Queens Cross Housing Association. If the GHA win the ballot then tenants in Burnbank, Cromwell and Dundasvale will have another change of landlord and Queens Cross Housing Asociation will becomeone one of seven of the first housing associations to take on the new role, in a series of pilot transfers.
GHA has a statutory obligation to publish its documents for public scrutiny and the plan is described a a draft, but they have not alerted tenants to it.
Tenants in the Cedar area only found out about it when a friendly housing camapigner alerted us to it.
The plan (which is available at: http://www.gha.org.uk/content/mediaassets/doc/Draft_Business_Plan_0607.pdf) will mean the demolition of 11,000 houses in multis across the city (corresponding to roughly half of all the city's tower blocks) along with a new charge for tenants in tower blocks as well as rent rises and a doubling of the service charge of home owners in years to come.
The plan also stipulates that GHA would like to see 50% of its remaining housing stock transfered to housing associations before the end of the year 2008. Tenants of Queen's Cross are to be balloted on whether or not they want to see their homes be transfered to Queens Cross Housing Association. If the GHA win the ballot then tenants in Burnbank, Cromwell and Dundasvale will have another change of landlord and Queens Cross Housing Asociation will becomeone one of seven of the first housing associations to take on the new role, in a series of pilot transfers.
GHA has a statutory obligation to publish its documents for public scrutiny and the plan is described a a draft, but they have not alerted tenants to it.
