Marginalised voices: resisting the privatisation of council housing in Glasgow

Mooney, Gerry and Poole, Lynn (2005). Marginalised voices: resisting the privatisation of council housing in Glasgow. Local Economy, 20(1) pp. 27–39.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0269094042000313593

Abstract

This paper explores the opposition to housing stock transfer in Glasgow in the early 1990s. Taking the position of anti-transfer campaigners, it argues that transfer can be interpreted as a form of 'privatisation' involving a profound restructuring in the role of the state in a key heartland area of welfare provision. Using interviews from housing campaigners in Glasgow, the paper argues that the much-heralded rhetoric about housing stock transfer as promoting tenant choice is highly contentious and misleading. The paper includes by highlighting that dispite the move to transfer in Glasgow, there remains a significant campaign against transfer in other parts of the UK.