COUNCIL bosses will allocate almost £8 million to repair private sector housing stock with £1m going to Govanhill.

Funds will be used for the repair of the private sector housing stock and adaptation works for disabled people in Glasgow following a committee meeting today.

As told in the Evening Times last week, some 46,600 pre-1919 tenement flats in the city have been deemed dangerous.

The total repair bill could be as much as £2.9 billion.

Under the council’s Private Sector Housing Grant (PSHG) programme funding will be allocated to disabled adaptations, statutory repairs, ‘missing share’ support, tackling issues with pre-1919 tenements and in areas with private letting or property management concerns such as Calton, Govanhill and Priesthill.

Around 65 per cent of homes in Glasgow are in private ownership and this stock has the highest level of disrepair in the city with hotspots in Govanhill, Strathbungo, Ibrox/Cessnock, East Pollokshields and Haghill/Dennistoun.

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convener for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm at Glasgow City Council, said:

“While the responsibility for maintenance of homes lies with the owner, we will - where appropriate - support some of the costs for this work when they take responsibility for the repair works.

"Our support for homeowners comes in a variety of forms, from disabled adaptations to helping groups of owners come together to make necessary repairs, and this is work that makes the neighbourhoods of Glasgow better places to live.”

The Glasgow Housing Strategy sets out several ways to maintain and improve housing stock.

One is investment in pre-1919 tenement stock to help prevent decline and in some cases prevent demolition.

Another is the provision of grants for essential adaptation works to the meet the needs of disabled people.

The council also provides funding for the Care and Repair service for disabled owners and those aged 65 and and over, offering advice and organising repairs on the owners’ behalf.

The ‘Missing Share’ programme supports owners where they are in the majority and wish to carry out common repairs or maintenance.

The council will underwrite the costs of the minority who are unwilling or unable to pay their share of costs.

These owners are pursued for full recovery of costs when work is completed - with the vast majority of minority owners paying.

Areas in Glasgow with private letting or property management concerns such as Calton, Govanhill and Priesthill will continue to be supported through the council’s PSHG programme.

Some £1m from the budget for 2018/19 will go the South Side area as part of the ‘Govanhill Strategy: Going Forward’ project.