Calling all coders, designers, and housing professionals! Shelter Scotland needs you to help us solve Scotland’s housing crisis. We’re getting together on the 28th of July for a weekend of brainstorming and collaboration to devise digital solutions that help address the real world problems for people facing homelessness and bad housing.

375,000 households now call the private rented sector their home and understanding their rights and responsibilities is becoming increasingly difficult. With the imminent introduction of a new private rented sector bill, landlords and tenants will need to comply with a range of new responsibilities when renting a property.

There are 595,000 households living in social properties and we’re seeing more and more people being digitally excluded. This poses a real risk with the planned roll out of Universal Credit and more and more services and welfare resources being moved online.

First time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to access assistance to start their journey towards homeownership.

We’re finding it harder and harder to reach those ‘hidden homeless’ – who don’t have a home of their own but rely on support from friends and family members.

And lastly we’re seeing a knock on effect of welfare reform, and finding it increasingly harder to reach and assist those who are spending night after night on the street.

Housing data is readily available but this information can be buried deep within websites, and can be confusing even for those in the know.

During this weekend-long hackathon, teams will be asked to come up with creative solutions to make it easier for first-time buyers, low income renters, senior citizens or anyone needing help meeting their housing needs.

After 3 days of hard work, teams will present their solutions to a judging panel of local tech leaders, entrepreneurs and housing professionals.

If you think this is something that sounds exciting, bring along your laptop and ideas and we’ll supply you with everything you need to keep you going over the weekend. Whether you’re a backend developer, designer, entrepreneur, student or just interested in tech; you’re invited to attend. We’re also especially looking for people who’ve experienced bad housing or homelessness as your voice is instrumental in understanding the issues.

So, how does all that sound? Check out the event page on the ProductForge website to register. You can also follow along on the day with a live stream, or using the event hashtag: #ShelterScotPF.