Learning lessons from stock transfer: the challenges in delivering second stage transfer in Glasgow

Second Generation Stock Transfers in Britain: Impacts on Social Housing Governance and Organisational Culture

“…Here, the 2003 transfer involved a single transaction to a unitary successor body: Glasgow Housing Association (GHA). However, the original expectation had been that, over time, the portfolio would be subject to Second Stage Transfers (SSTs) which would see ownership eventually disaggregated into 62 Local Housing Organisation (LHO) units (McKee, 2009). In the event, the legal and logistical challenges in pushing forward the SST programme proved even more formidable than anticipated (McKee, 2009).…”

“…Similarly, the promotion of estate level or 'partial' transfers was partly justified on the basis that this would decentralise governance to localities. In Scotland, with the post-devolution housing agenda dominated by the need for a solution to Glasgow's chronically run-down council housing, Ministers envisaged a form of transfer which would shatter the leviathan city housing department into over 60 locally controlled units (McKee, 2009).…”

Transforming Australia's Social Housing: Pointers from the British Stock Transfer Experience

“…In Scotland, this policy objective was reflected in Ministerial commitments attached to the Glasgow City Council transfer of its 80 000 homes in 2003. Whereas the portfolio was initially handed to a single recipient organisation, Glasgow Housing Association, there was an expectation that a second phase of the process would see the stock divided into more than 60 packages, some forming new free-standing landlords and others being incorporated within existing community-based associations (McKee, 2009;. In practice, Glasgow's second stage transfers (SSTs) have proved extremely difficult to deliver and this led to the entire project being dogged by long-running controversy and recriminations.…”

The future of community housing in Scotland: some thoughts and reflections

“…This was to be achieved by an interim phase of devolved housing management to a network of Local Housing Organisations, with promises made to deliver 'full' community ownership through smaller second stage transfers in order these local organisations could break away become stand-alone housing associations in their own right. A number of practical, financial and organisational barriers have however prevented this political ambition from being realised (Kearns and Lawson, 2008;McKee, 2007McKee, , 2009c. This is significant, for as Kintrea (2006) argues the ability to roll out community ownership to other parts of Scotland was ultimately dependent on it being realised in Glasgow: Scotland's most problematic city in housing terms given the sheer size and scale of the issues facing the local authority sector.…”

“…The importance of positive tenant-landlord interactions at a more general level also needs to be considered. In my own Glasgow-based research, tenants talked about the value of 'Silver Deal Days' as examples of non-housing wider-action activities which improved their relationship with their landlord (McKee, 2009c). Such initiatives involved landlord sponsored activities for older residents, such as away-days or fitness classes.…”