Private rents ‘lag behind’ social housing

The private rented sector continues to lag well behind social housing for security, affordability and quality, a new report has found.

The study by Common Weal used data from the Scottish Household Survey 2016 to draw comparisons between the two.

It argues the trend towards privatisation must be reversed if housing problems such as insecurity and unaffordability are to be tackled.

The think-tank suggests this could be done through a combination of strengthening and increasing the diversity of social housing and establishing a regulatory regime for the private sector that puts it on “at least a level playing field”.

Its report found that private renting was “uniquely insecure”, with more than twothirds of people staying less than two years in one flat and around 40 per cent staying less than one year.

The average stay is 2.8 years, compared to 10.6 years in social housing. Only one in five private tenants had a very strong connection to their neighbourhood, compared to a third in social housing.