GLASGOW is struggling, public services have been repeatedly cut back, there are thousands left stuck on social housing lists and we have a public transport system that only makes sense to the profiteering shareholders of the private companies that have been allowed to run it.

But right now the council is consulting on introducing a visitor levy across the city that has the potential to generate much needed cash for our city’s struggling services. The only problem? They want to put the money back into tourism. 

For most workers and tenants Glasgow is no longer an affordable place to live. Since 2010 private rent has increased 30 points above inflation while workers’ wages have stagnated. As a result thousands are considering having to move out of the neighbourhoods and communities they call home, often having to move away from family, friends and established caring and support networks.

At the same time, Glasgow is not building enough social or affordable housing. As a result there are 34,000 trapped on social housing waiting lists, 7,604 people in temporary accommodation nearly half of whom are children. Homelessness applications are up by nearly a quarter and the city is spending £36 million a year on temporary accommodation, a 40 per cent increase over the last three years. In response to the housing disaster that is engulfing Glasgow, Glasgow City Council declared a housing emergency in November 2023. But since then, there has been too much talk and for the tenants and residents in Glasgow, not nearly enough action.   

However, new legislation could offer a chance for the city to bring in money to go towards positive solutions. Last year, the Scottish government introduced the visitor levy, which enables councils to charge visitors for overnight stays.

Already other local authorities are working on introducing the levy. Edinburgh City Council have committed to introducing the measure. Highland Council, Stirling Council and Aberdeen City Council are talking about or consulting on the policy and now Glasgow City Council is consulting on the policy.

However, it is clear from the consultation that any money made will just go into generating more tourism. Indeed, the tourism industry has made it clear that money raised by the visitor levy should not be used by the council to plug budget gaps or be spent on housing.

Now, tourism is beneficial to Glasgow, and Glasgow is world-renowned for being a hospitable city. But this narrow focus on tourism completely ignores the workers and residents that keep the city moving, serve the tourists and make Glasgow the welcoming city that it is.

Failing to act to protect and support workers will push more people out and soon huge swathes of the city will become the exclusive home of the wealthy or those visiting.

The argument for using the levy to fund tourism seems to be that by generating more money from attracting more tourists, this will raise the standard of living for us all. But regardless of where they work, be that in the busiest tourist hotspots in the world or in the fanciest restaurants, hospitality workers’ standard of living is not pushed up by more tourists. 

Instead, wealthy owners, corporations or short-term let landlords cash in while workers are left to pick over the crumbs of affordable housing still in the city that has not been taken up by holiday lets. Glasgow welcomes tourists, but workers and residents are struggling now and we need to ensure that all Glaswegians can afford to stay in the city they call home. A tourist tax should mitigate the worst effects of a tourist industry that prioritises hotels and short-term lets over family homes.

For too long developers and landlords have taken full advantage of to hollow out our communities in the name of soaring profits and this needs to be reined in. The visitor levy offers the chance to generate income for the city that is not raising council tax and therefore hitting residents’ pockets.

Already, Edinburgh Council has been a good example of what is possible with its commitment to spend £5m of the money raised to borrow a further £70m to build approximately 500 council housing and affordable homes. Glasgow City Council should not resign its role to managing cuts. This levy offers a chance to generate revenue for their constituents and generate community wealth.

Though the levy will not generate anywhere near enough to build the affordable homes Glasgow needs, it will be a start, and Glasgow’s housing emergency needs all the help, funds and action it can get. Furthermore, alongside committing funds from the levy to housing, Glasgow City Council needs to commit to introducing rent controls when they are finally passed into law by the Scottish government.

The city needs rent controls capped at a zero per cent increase and which do not allow rent increases between tenancies, to stop more people being pushed into homelessness and out of the city.

The council should be serious and focused on raising income through policies such as the visitor levy, and on pushing for rent controls to bring down sky-high rents. The people are what makes Glasgow an enjoyable place to visit and the council should do everything it can to ensure we can afford to stay in our city. 

Living Rent has thousands of members across five Glasgow branches, unions such as the GMB and Unite have backed our calls for the tourist tax to be spent on public housing, services and infrastructure. Join organised tenants, workers and communities in fighting for this Signing our petition is the first step.

Ian MacCorquodale is a member of Living Rent Glasgow.