The Salvation Army's Helen Murdoch looks back over the recent Annual Homelessness Conference which served as a reminder of the benefits of collaboration when tackling homelessness. The arrival of winter weather this week is a chilling reminder that far too many people in Scotland are housed in unsui

Councillor James Dalgleish, planning convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, writes about a bold and ambitious plan agreed last week by councillors to make better use of land in the capital. Edinburgh’s population is growing fast and so a major highlight of City Plan 2030 is setting aside e

Muir Group executive chairman John Muir argues that the recent cut to interest rates is a welcome boost for Scotland's housebuilders. It is no surprise that the Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates will have been welcomed by homebuilders up and down the country. With it comes more

Thomas & Adamson's Greig Fenton highlights the critical role of Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) in the journey towards net zero for housing stock. The journey to net zero can seem a large, ominous, and expensive undertaking for housing providers. Some 2.9 million homes are owned by housin

Jimmy Black relives a few housing decades with Laurie Naumann, a campaigner on single homelessness, and a founder of Kingdom Housing Association. This is a story about Laurie Naumann, who recently retired after 44 years as a board member at Kingdom Housing Association. But it’s also a step bac

Jimmy Black cycled to Stornoway to meet Calum (Barney) MacKay, chair of TPAS Scotland and long-standing tenant activist. Barney is a trade unionist, and that explains a lot. Trades unions teach their active members how to do many useful things, including basic skills, like how to run a meeting or th

Jimmy Black meets the energetic Evie Copland, multi-award-winner and housing evangelist. “The biggest problem is … how do I change the world with this?” Evie Copland is finishing her Master's in Housing Studies, and she has been a distinguished student. In 2021 she won the Malcolm

Jimmy Black meets Bill Banks, retiring CEO of the multi award-winning Kingdom Group. Bill Banks looks relaxed, calm and entirely at home in his relatively modest office at Kingdom Housing Association. He’s a man at the height of his powers with a very solid track record of achievement. But Bil

Below is a full transcript of episode 63 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Accessible housing (part 4) with Simon Fitzpatrick'. Listen to the episode here.

“Partnership work is about relationships, it's knowing people, it's understanding each of us have roles and responsibilities but keeping in mind what we're all trying to achieve at the end of the day and that's the outcomes for people that live in our communities to allow them to thrive and su

Below is a full transcript of episode 62 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Accessible housing (part 3) with Jacquie Pepper and Elaine Ritchie’. Listen to the episode here.

“If we don't grab and grab with both hands that prevention agenda, do more now, given we know what's coming our way from our demographics, then we are going to be in a much worse state than we are now in 10, 20 years time.” Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black continue their exploration of the

Jimmy Black hears about some great work happening in Perth & Kinross; then thinks about people excluded from the housing market by high prices and poverty. We’re running out of words. We’ve used “housing emergency” to explain the failure of our housing markets to provide

Jimmy Black hopes Integrated Joint Boards (IJBs) will find inspiration at the Housing & Social Care Accessibility Summit, after a chat with Hanover Scotland's Angela Currie.

Jimmy Black thinks about wheelchairs, accessible houses, cycling on grass and a conversation with Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP.

Jimmy Black reflects on a conversation with Helen Murdoch from the Salvation Army and Janet Haugh from Right There.

In the latest article in the ongoing Our Housing Heritage series, Scottish Housing News discusses the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915. In the absence of social housing, families across the UK in 1915 were at the mercy of private landlords who could hike rents and evict tenants at will with little restr

The Springburn office of ng homes is named after Ned Donaldson. But who was Ned Donaldson? Kieran Findlay recalls the contribution of the activist and the post-war battle to stop the privatisation of council housing at Merrylee. It was a cold sleety December day in 1951. Slum landlordism and sublett

Duncan Smith, who works in the social housing sector, has contributed this piece as part of his quest for more information about housing architect George Gibson. Several years ago, just after starting my current job, I undertook some research on the properties we were refurbishing at the time. I fou

Next month marks the centenary of Scotland’s first council housing estate, the Logie Estate in Dundee. Lauren Brown reports.

The Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme has distributed a total of £9.3 million to support 28 organisations across England, Scotland and Wales, deliver projects supporting vulnerable residents with energy bills and carbon reduction initiatives.

HACT has revealed that its fuel fund programme has distributed more than £2 million worth of fuel vouchers to households across England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2023. This funding has provided direct energy support to nearly 7,000 households, ensuring critical funds are available to

The British Gas Energy Trust, an independent charitable organisation funded solely by British Gas, has officially reopened its Energy Support Fund for applications today.

Age Scotland has written to the UK and Scottish governments urging them to outline plans to tackle the crisis facing the lowest income pensioners affected by the loss of the Winter Fuel Payment. In a letter to Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray, Age Scotland has highlighted recent figures identifying 20

Residents in North Lanarkshire are continuing to be supported in wide-ranging council efforts to prevent homelessness, despite the number of people declaring themselves homeless has increased by 16% in the last year, a new report has revealed.

The Salvation Army's Helen Murdoch looks back over the recent Annual Homelessness Conference which served as a reminder of the benefits of collaboration when tackling homelessness. The arrival of winter weather this week is a chilling reminder that far too many people in Scotland are housed in unsui

Homelessness organisations have criticised plans by the City of Edinburgh Council to move 700 homeless people out of unlicensed temporary accommodation before the start of December.

Wheatley Group is to make an additional 1,000 homes available to local authorities in Scotland to help tackle the homelessness crisis. Having previously committed to providing 10,000 properties to homeless people by 2026, the group has announced today that it will increase this target by 10% to help

Scotland’s landlords and letting agents have warned that rent controls will "backfire" as they prepare to gather in Edinburgh for the annual Scottish Letting Day conference. The Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), the body representing Scotland’s landlords and letting agents, issued

Newton Property Management has acquired Aberdeen Property Leasing’s (APL) block factoring portfolio. At the start of October, APL transferred all common management responsibilities for 1,400 factored properties to Newton. The deal followed APL’s decision to focus on their core letting se

The introduction of rent controls has received support from the majority of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to improve housing outcomes for people who live in private rented accommodation and ensure a fair balance bet

Zoë Whyatt has joined letting agent and property management company Homes for Good (HFG) as its first chief executive. The appointment follows a period of joint working which saw Zoë identify the next steps of growth for the organisation.

Concerns about the fairness and consistency of grants awarded through the Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) have been highlighted in a new report from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The report highlights issues with the distribution of the Fund, which provides grants to those in crisis.

Social Security Scotland has published its Annual Report and Accounts, which shows that it made £1.9 billion in payments to people in Scotland from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The payments were made across 14 Scottish benefits, seven of which are not available anywhere else in the UK.

Tens of thousands more unpaid carers in Scotland can apply for a new benefit from today. Carer Support Payment, which is a payment of £81.90 per week paid by Social Security Scotland, has been introduced in phases since November 2023.

The Court of Session has granted permission to proceed in the judicial review challenge against decisions to cut to the Winter Fuel Payment.