Rural issues ignored, says councillor

THE housing crisis is being worsened in Dumfries and Galloway because government decision-makers are ignoring the extra problems this region faces, a councillor has argued.

It has highlighted at a recent council meeting that the local housing allowance for renters in Dumfries and Galloway is nearly half of what is paid in Glasgow, writes Marc McLean.

This has been a contributing factor in nearly 900 landlords walking away from the area’s private rental sector in recent years.

Commenting, Councillor Paula Stevenson said: “I think this highlights the problems created when decisions are made from the central belt and don’t take into account the additional difficulties in a rural area with much older housing.

“Not everyone can afford to buy a house nor would they be high on the social housing lists, which is struggling to accommodate homelessness application as it is.

“We’ve also witnessed what happens when private landlords sell up in droves, so we need to find a happy medium that supports everyone – the last thing we need locally is more properties turning to holiday lets as some parts of our region have the highest percentages in Scotland.

“We also shouldn’t have people pushed out of their rural community because they have fallen on hard times and have no available social housing available in their town or village.”

The weekly Local Housing Allowance awarded to people on benefits in this region – to help them pay their rent on a two-bedroom house – was just £103.56 in 2024/25.

In Greater Glasgow, this figure is almost double at £195.62.

There are 1110 fewer properties overall compared to five years ago, and Dumfries and Galloway housing chiefs have been trying desperately to incentivise more private landlords to return to the sector, and have also been offering grants to bring below tolerable houses up to standard.