Local Landlords Offer Help
Four West Lothian based social landlords have joined together in an alliance geared to tackle the shortage of rented homes in West Lothian.
Almond Housing Association, Horizon Housing Association, Weslo Housing Management and West Lothian Housing Partnership have set up the “West Lothian Strategic Alliance”, which has offered to work in partnership with West Lothian Council in order to build new affordable homes for rent across the district.
Following the publication of “Locally Committed”, an introductory paper, West Lothian Council has welcomed the approach and has invited the Alliance to develop the proposals in more detail.
The Alliance is firmly focussed on the needs of West Lothian, and in Almond and Weslo, includes the two biggest social landlords active in the district, who already work closely with the Council on a range of housing matters. Add to that the skills and experience of Horizon, the Livingston based association which manages the Care and Repair service in West Lothian and provides housing for people with particular needs across the country, and the newly established West Lothian Housing Partnership’s contribution to the regeneration of Boghall, and you have a very committed group who can provide a strong and vibrant social housing arm to complement the Council’s own housing service.
The Alliance already provides over four thousand homes for rent in West Lothian and look forward to building more. “We are here for the long term” said George Webster speaking on behalf of the Alliance. “Our future is in West Lothian and our collective objective is quite simply to provide the community with quality housing and services at affordable rents”. Members of the Alliance are currently working with the Council on a single housing waiting list, which will enable prospective tenants to apply for a house from any of the Alliance members, and the Council, by simply completing one application. “This is the sort of joint initiative that can lead to a far better service to the community by having the main local housing providers working together. We look forward to developing similar initiatives in future years which will help to give West Lothian tenants a quality of service which is second to none”.
|
