After a spell as a housing regulator at the Housing Corporation, and then Scottish Homes, Jim served as the GWSF’s first director as well as his work as a housing consultant.

Foster Evans, former CEO of Employers in Voluntary Housing, provides a fuller career timeline and his personal tribute.

He said: “Jim worked in housing in Glasgow and west central Scotland for almost 40 years. He started in 1985 in an administrative post at the Housing Corporation in Glasgow, which then ran housing development funding for housing associations for the whole of the old Strathclyde Region but, more critically, supported and promoted the development of new community controlled housing association and co-operatives.

“He continued with the Housing Corporation as it morphed into Scottish Homes, and over a period of 17-18 years, he worked in a wide range of areas including development funding, internal consultancy, strategic planning and stock transfers. From 1998 to 2003 Jim managed a team that was responsible for regulating more than 100 social landlords across west central Scotland, and he had a reputation for being a sympathetic and informed regulator.

“In his role as a consultant, he was renowned for his research, thoroughness and clarity of writing and thinking. EVH found him to be an indispensable scribe for both its committee briefings and a thorough and complete revision of its committee members handbook.

“At GWSF between 2010 and 2013 some of these initiatives continued as a more formal partnership. His work defending local involvement on committees/boards was critical in preserving community control against ill informed, textbook version of governance.

“He could be prickly (can’t we all), but he was actually fun and really smart. I appointed him at the Housing Corporation and he thanked me when I left as his overly academic background had put other employers off. He was a star.”

GWSF director David Bookbinder said: “Jim’s sudden passing has come as a terrible shock and is just so incredibly sad.

“Initially as a consultant and then as the Forum’s first director, Jim was immensely successful in working with members to finally secure the transfer of ex-GCC stock to existing community-based housing associations.

“Thereafter, Jim was instrumental in ‘mainstreaming’ the Forum, broadening out its role and attracting new members from Glasgow and from several other parts of the west of Scotland. His promotion and defence of community controlled housing associations came from the heart, but always backed up with robust evidence and reasoned arguments from the sharpest of minds.

“It’s always been obvious that the many associations who’ve hired Jim in his freelance capacity have not only treasured his legendary attention to detail and forensic analytical skills, but also have regarded him as a dear friend.

“The Forum, and so many people associated with GWSF past and present, send our deepest sympathies to Jim’s partner Andrew, his family and friends.”

Fraser Stewart, director at New Gorbals Housing Association, said: “Jim Harvey wouldn’t have thought much of being cast as the cleverest man in housing in Scotland. He would have come up with a hilarious description of that being the lowest of bars to jump.

“But it was true.

“Jim didn’t just do Business Plans. You went to Jim if you needed a Minister to actually understand the implications of their own policy, and tie their officials in knots with their own statements. You went to Jim if you needed someone to debunk nonsense with clear thinking, and express your case clearly and powerfully. If Jim was sitting on your side of the table, you knew that you couldn’t lose the argument.

“Jim Harvey wasn’t just remarkably articulate, witty and intelligent, and a brilliant writer; he was a wise and serious man, and more influential than some with much higher profiles. Many in the housing world have been credited with changing things for the better, particularly for community controlled housing associations. In fact, all the bullets had been crafted by Jim, and they were simply following his counsel. He gave a lot of confidential advice that had major impact – including up to recent times - but that wasn’t widely known.

“Jim Harvey was an exceptional man and he will be sorely missed, not least by many of those who value community control in housing.”

Alastair MacGregor, interim chief executive at Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association, said: “Hard news to hear we have lost Jim. He was in my class at Glasgow University at the same time as Alasdair McKee another housing colleague we have lost. An incredibly bright man who gave so much to housing and communities through a long career of community service. Advice from Jim was valuable and always straightforward and relevant.”

Alison Smith from Allanpark Consultants Ltd said: “I worked with Jim in Scottish Homes when he was part of DSU (the Development Support Unit). I remember his welcoming smile and infectious laugh just as much as I remember his hard work and collaborative approach. So so sad.”

Malcolm Green, who was chair of Yorkhill Housing Association from 2018-2023, said: “Yorkhill has special cause to be grateful to Jim Harvey. He produced our first proper Business Plan in 2022, probably one of his last. It was of encyclopaedic proportions and both the detail and the clarity of the exposition were outstanding. The Scottish Housing Regulator was left with nothing to challenge and we survived our first change of CEO in forty years unscathed. His work will be our principal point of reference for years to come.”

Eddie Warde, principal officer at Glasgow City Council’s Housing & Regeneration Services team, said: “Jim was my first manager on joining Scottish Homes in 1990. I learned a lot from him, not only in terms of how to carry out our work, but how best to organise and present it also. He was great to work alongside with and it was good to speak with him on the odd occasions our paths crossed after he left.”

SHN will continue to add tributes to Jim Harvey to this page as they come in. To add yours, please email our editor at kieran@scottishnews.com.