The Scottish Government declared a housing emergency in May 2024, acknowledging that Scotland lacked sufficient housing supply to meet demand. This was partly self-inflicted, with the government cutting its affordable housing building supply programme and imposing rent controls without exemption, wh

Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron writes about the challenges facing Edinburgh, and the work being done to tackle them. In Edinburgh, our population continues to grow at speed and for some years now, housing demand has been significantly outstripping supply.  

Hans Mitchell discusses the critically slow progress of Scotland's National Cladding Remediation Programme, which, despite increased government funding and a high demand for building safety assessments, is severely hampered by a national shortage of qualified fire safety engineers to carry out the e

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

In this episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black discuss the theme of 'Everybody Needs Good Neighbours' for Scottish Housing Day. They explore the importance of community and neighbourliness, the role of housing associations in fostering social connections, and th

In this episode, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black discuss the pressing issue of homelessness with Maureen Knight from Albyn Housing Society and Pamela Forrest from Riverside Scotland. They explore innovative strategies to prevent homelessness, focusing on proactive tenancy sustainment and the Housing

Below is a full transcript of episode 74 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Tenancy sustainment with Maureen Knight and Pamela Forrest’. Listen to the episode here.

Join hosts Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black as they delve into the complexities of housing adaptations in Scotland. Featuring insights from Professor Vikki McCall from the University of Stirling and SFHA policy manager Susie Fitton, this episode explores the challenges and opportunities in adapting ho

Jimmy Black blogs on Riverside Scotland’s Housing First for Families, and Albyn’s Tenancy Sustainment Team.

Jimmy Black says the current funding system for adaptations makes no sense.

Jimmy Black says knowing what causes condensation is the key to fixing it.

Retrofitting tenements was the subject of the latest SHN podcast with guests from Changeworks, Loco Home and Under One Roof. Jimmy Black yearns for heat networks, not heat pumps... “With tenements, it’s every single problem around net zero and climate change all rolled into one building.

For the next edition of Our Housing Heritage, journalist and digital history specialist Chris Holme shares the story of how First World War servicemen came to reside in the rural village of Longniddry. Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes f

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

Fife Council's Glenrothes Area Committee has awarded £18,982 to St Andrews Environmental Network, extending fuel poverty support for residents in the area until March next year (2026) and launching a new pilot reuse initiative – Reuse Rothes.

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel has hit out at the current Scottish Government approach to tackling fuel poverty as outdated, weak and without clear outcomes, adding that Scotland is extremely unlikely to meet its fuel poverty targets for 2030. Publishing its statutory response to the

With energy bills set to increase by 2% today, the British Gas Energy Trust has reopened its largest energy debt fund and is urging people in energy debt to seek support.

Ahead of the 1 October energy price cap rise, Kingdom Group chief executive Tom Barclay outlines the steps required to address the troubling increase in fuel poverty across Scotland. The 2% rise in energy bills from October couldn't come at a worse time. With 861,000 Scottish households already stru

Scottish homelessness charity Bethany Christian Trust has once again opened its doors for those facing a winter’s night on the cold streets of Edinburgh. Last season, Bethany’s Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre protected a person from sleeping on the streets a total of 11,583 times.

Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron writes about the challenges facing Edinburgh, and the work being done to tackle them. In Edinburgh, our population continues to grow at speed and for some years now, housing demand has been significantly outstripping supply.  

Ahead of the 2026 Scottish General Election, homeless prevention charity Cyrenians, has published a manifesto directed at the policy developers and decision makers shaping the plans of Scotland's major political parties. Scotland is in the midst of a housing emergency. The number of people presentin

One in four people in Scotland (25%) has either been homeless themselves or had a close friend or family member who has been homeless, new polling from Ipsos has found.

A Glasgow City Council committee has received an update on the council's Private Housing Sector Grant (PHSG) programme.  The PHSG programme provides support for private housing to help meet two key objectives of the city's Housing Strategy: to improve the condition of existing housing stock and

Tenants' union Living Rent is today urging MSPs to vote to protect tenants ahead of the final vote on the Housing Bill later, but say further and bolder action is required if they are serious about tackling the housing emergency. The Housing Bill is a key component of the Scottish Government’s

Cox & Co, the Edinburgh-based property and mortgage brokerage, has been acquired by Casa Group, one of the fastest growing property groups in the north of England. The seven-figure deal sees Casa Group, which specialises in residential sales, lettings and property management, expand its presence

Rigid deadlines for improving the energy efficiency of rental homes risk worsening Scotland’s housing crisis by reducing the supply of properties available to rent, the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) has warned. Under current Scottish Government proposals, all rental homes must achieve an

Projects aimed at tackling child poverty across the country will receive increased, multi-year funding thanks to a boost from the Scottish Government.   Successful applicants to the third round of the Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund, now worth more than £1.8 million, will receive

Families of almost 45,000 disabled children and young people are set to receive winter heating support, as Scotland’s unique benefit marks its fifth anniversary.   Child Winter Heating Payments will be issued from next week to families caring for children with the highest disability suppo

The Scottish Government has been urged to set out how it will manage a funding gap created by its higher spending on devolved benefits. In a new report published yesterday, Audit Scotland highlighted that the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) is the largest of the devolved benefits and the replacement

More than 11,000 applications from Scots for a new benefit worth up to £441 a month have been processed since it opened, new figures reveal. The Pension Age Disability Payment, administered by Social Security Scotland, is a replacement for Attendance Allowance. It provides money to suppor