Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh and the leaders of all the main parties in the Scottish Parliament are backing this year’s annual Scottish Housing Day, due to take place on Thursday September 21.

The Parliament’s Presiding Officer has been joined by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie, Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie and Scottish Labour shadow community minister Pauline McNeill in registering their support for the initiative.

Building on the success of the inaugural day held in September 2016, this year’s Scottish Housing Day aims to give the public easier access to the resources they need to make properly informed housing decisions. A wide variety of housing organisations have already signed up to host events on the day itself with the aim of raising public awareness of housing options and the great work people in housing do.

A key theme for the day will be to address the specific challenges and aspirations facing younger people in accessing housing. This will cover a broad spectrum of topics including mid-market rent, help to buy and housing supply as well as understanding the challenges faced by parents who still have grown up children living at home.

Other themes to be explored include options for older people who aspire to live longer in the right kind of home, as well as raising awareness of the positive impact of legislative reform on raising standards in the private rented sector.

Scottish Housing Day 2017 is being led by a range of housing sector partners including the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland in partnership with Shelter Scotland, the Tenant Participatory Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations (GWSF), the Tenant Networks, Homes for Scotland and the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL).

CIH Scotland executive director, Annie Mauger, said: “It’s great that our leading politicians are supporting Scottish Housing Day. All of the organisations and people who work in housing are keen to let people know more about the work we do, whether looking after tenants, building new homes, supporting homeless people or giving advice. Information, support and a variety of housing options are available to help people on their housing journey. We want to make everyone more aware of what’s available and how they can access it.

“With events and roadshows taking place across the country, housing organisations are inviting people to come along and find out more about what they do. We will also be sharing housing stories on social media throughout the day. With so much happening, we look forward to this Thursday being a really successful Scottish Housing Day.”

Further information about Scottish Housing Day including a range of downloadable and printable resources and a calendar of registered events is available at: www.scottishhousingday.co.uk. The day will be driven by local activity and social media using the dedicated Twitter account @scothousingday and the hashtag #scottishhousingday.

Scottish Housing News will also mark Scottish Housing Day by highlighting stories and events on Twitter and on its daily email newsletter. To share your orginisation’s activities contact newsdesk@scottishnews.com.