Two members of the Glasgow Housing Association's management committee are to put forward a motion next month that would allow them to decide whether to continue with eviction proceedings.
Colin Deans, one of the board members behind the motion, said that although he favoured taking legal action to pursue tenants who persistently avoid rent payments, he wanted eviction to be used as a "last resort".
He added: "Glasgow already has a high homelessness figure, and we don't want to see that figure increase.
"We want to be sure that as much as possible is being done to avoid eviction. GHA's officers need guidance. It is a function of the management committee to provide it."
Figures released by the Scottish Executive last Tuesday show that homelessness applications in Glasgow fell slightly between July and September 2003 to 3328 – a number almost twice that reported in Edinburgh.
Deans and his colleague Billy McAllister are proposing that anonymous case histories be presented to the board for members to decide whether mitigating circumstances should rule out eviction.
We want to be sure that as much as possible is being done to avoid eviction
Colin Deans, board member, GHA
The motion is due to be presented at an operations sub-committee meeting. It will be subject to a vote, and requires a simple majority to be adopted.
The proposal follows moves by GHA to cut back on its £12m rent arrears. Last week Housing Today revealed that court time allocated to rent arrears cases in Glasgow had been doubled in order to cope with the number of cases raised by the association (HT 16 January, page 11).
GHA has as many as 7000 potential rent arrears cases on its hands, some of which it inherited from Glasgow council.
A spokesperson for GHA said a team of welfare benefit officer had been set up to help tenants in difficulties.
Source
Housing Today
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