The end of the Right to Buy and the future of social housing in Scotland

Abstract

Thirty-years after the introduction of the Right to Buy - the most successful example of housing privatisation policy in the UK - the current Housing (Scotland) Bill proposes to end the scheme for both new social housing tenants and new social housing. This paper considers the implications of these modernising reforms, in the context of housing policy divergence post-devolution. It concludes that these proposals are likely to have a significant, but mixed, impact on the future of the social rented sector in Scotland.