THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HOUSING POLICY: THE SCOTTISH SPECIAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION AND

Extreme housing conditions in inter-war urban Scotland form the background to the creation of a specialist agency, the Scottish Special Housing Association, charged with the responsibility to both relieve the housing situation and provide employment. The expansion of SSHA activities, which by 1980 made it the second largest housing authority in Scotland with 10,000 dwellings, is examined. The escalation of SSHA activities is considered in the light of inter-organizational relationships between the SSHA and the Scottish Office. The paper concludes that in the successive reformulations of housing policy the SSHA was not neutral, that it frequently anticiated policy reorientations, and was thus well placed to execute new policies once formally announced. Though it conformed to the broad outline of a'mandated agency with elements of power and resource dependency, the SSHA successfully established a degree of operational autonomy while simultaneously offering the Scottish Office a mechanism to contain the power of local government.