Housing Stock Transfer down the line

Aileen Colleran

Intimations:
Suddenly, after a short management committee meeting, in 2004, the Glasgow Housing Association suffered a fatal attack of "Secondary Transferitis" and terminal decline set in rapidly. No flowers please.

Not being party to the GHA's decision making process, I wasn't even aware that a stakeholders mini-conference had been called for the end of August. That meeting was to indulge in a bit of future planning, with a pinch of "blue-sky thinking" thrown in for good measure. Aficionados of consultant-speak know to be wary of that phrase since the cynical would say that means - "management's secret agenda which they're manipulating everyone in the room to agree with ". Far be it from me to suggest that was the case, but it's hardly surprising that accelerating the secondary transfer process so it's all done and dusted by 2007 would be identified as the favoured option for the future of the GHA.

Interesting date - the year of the next Scottish elections, the year the five year contract with Glasgow City Council Building Services trading operation (ex-DLO) runs out, quite probably the year the Chief Executive Michael Lennon's contract runs out. A coincidence to be sure.

Although there may be some sense of shock that there are moves afoot to disperse stock more rapidly from the GHA to the Local Housing Organisations (LHO's), anyone who's studied this process closely shouldn't be too surprised, since that was the whole point of the GHA - to self-destruct.
Well, I told you so.
Doesn't every political writer long to type those words? When writing in the Citizen in September 2001 "the GHA is the transfer vehicle with the built-in self destruct button", I chose the word "vehicle" carefully. What is the purpose of the GHA? If secondary transfers are completed by 2007, it's self-evident that it was purely a political mechanism for shifting housing stock from the local authority, writing off the historic debt and facilitating large scale demolitions. An interim device to ease the process of handing over stock to existing housing associations in the city, enabling mini-municipalities to be created as mergers and take-overs become the norm - a third stage transfer process. If anyone's in any doubt as why that would be the case, just consider the viability of a small LHO seeking funding and carrying the running costs of employing staff and attempting to negotiate building contracts in a tough marketplace.

When thinking of a vehicular metaphor to describe the GHA which is currently one of the biggest housing associations in the country, the word "juggernaut " occurred to me , but I changed my mind on checking the dictionary definition ;
"Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed". Of course, that wouldn't be appropriate.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the elaborate dance of stock transfer is the delay in implementing a much - needed investment programme. That was always an issue for those of us who have continually questioned the stock transfer process - that the setting up of a new organisation would delay repairs and new build as the dust settled post-transfer on personnel movements - interviewing and appointing rather than roofing and rendering.

So it proved, and it is to be hoped that in the remaining years of its existence the GHA can deliver repairs and investment on a larger scale than it has done to date. Most importantly for the sake of the tenants, but also for securing employment and training opportunities, and it's interesting to re-visit the framework agreement which states: " this Partnership must not be seen only as a housing venture but as a vehicle for wider change, offering hope for jobs, education and new technology initiatives that will run parallel with this proposal-"

How, precisely? The opportunities for local employment and training initiatives from investment in Glasgow's housing stock are marginal, small scale and wishful statements in glossy documents unless this is factored into the business planning process of housing associations - in terms of being prepared to absorb the social costs of such initiatives. Price only contracts for repairs and new build will not create jobs and training for young people and adult unemployed on the scale that could be possible. Private sector contractors don't employ, they sub-contract. Sub-contractors don't train because they operate on profit margins that don't allow for that. Incidentally, how many apprentices do you imagine were employed on the Holyrood building project? Surely the answer isn't - none? Unless we are prepared to use public procurement to secure investment in people as well as infrastructure and have to courage to believe in our founding principles and actually dare to interfere in the market, then it's business as usual in Scotland plc.