Opinion

Kingdom chief executive Bill Banks details how the group has been meeting the climate challenge head-on through its Sustainability Policy and beyond. The theme of this year's Scottish Housing Day is Housing and the Climate Emergency.

Kevin Reid, chief executive of the Cruden Group, gives a commentary on the Housing and Climate Emergency theme of Scottish Housing Day. In the 2018-2019 financial year more new homes were built in Scotland than at any time since the crash of 2008. Covid put the brakes on activity levels and alt

Homeless Action Scotland CEO Gavin Yates provides his take on this week's Programme for Government, in particular the proposals for rent controls. The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government announced recently had many eye-catching headlines. 

Kirsty Wells, head of Housemark Scotland, highlights how social landlords can play a significant part in combating climate change. Climate change is a serious threat to lives, from the very real risk of water shortages and food production becoming difficult, to heat waves, violent storms and downpou

Martin Gavin from Homeless Network Scotland takes a closer look at the housing and homelessness elements in the Programme for Government, published on Tuesday. ‘A Fairer, Greener Scotland’ declares the bold white typeface set against blue sky in the striking cover photograph for the 2021

Ten years on from the Christie Commission, Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General for Scotland, discusses the continued need for change in Scotland's public services. Ten years ago, the Christie report set out an inspiring agenda for change that would put people at the heart of public services. Unl

With next week's Scottish Housing Day set to explore the challenges for the social housing sector to meet net zero carbon emissions, ALACHO policy manager Tony Cain argues that evidence-based solutions are more important than quick ones. The classical version is Festina Lente, ma

On 9 July 2021, the Scottish Government published a report on The Value, Incidence and Impact of Developer Contributions in Scotland. The report is an independent piece of research on Section 75 planning obligations – the equivalent of Section 106 in England – and other developer contrib

Outlining CIH Scotland's support for Scottish Housing Day’s climate emergency focus, Catherine Hall argues that the sector must act to decarbonise homes across all tenures if it is to play a meaningful part in tackling the crisis. The climate emergency represents the defining crisis

Ashley Campbell and Lesley Palmer, co-chairs of the National Housing and Dementia Forum, are continuing to gather evidence on what needs to be done to ensure that people with dementia are able to live well in their own homes for as long as possible. This blog summarises the discussions of the third

Homeless Network Scotland hosted a webinar on Housing First and Harm Reduction this week to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. By bringing together a range of contributors from third sector, Health and Social Care Partnerships, the NHS and the Scottish Government, the webinar offered an oppo

Former Link chief executive and member of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission, Craig Sanderson, outlines how housing can help overcome poverty in Edinburgh. One of the most devastating causes of poverty in Edinburgh is the mushrooming cost of sustaining a secure, comfortable home to buy or rent. S

David Alexander, managing director of property firm DJ Alexander, discusses the potential setbacks of introducing rent-controlled areas in Scotland. When an economy is laid low by war, famine, pestilence or – most recently – by a global pandemic, one factor is crucial to eventual recover

Garry Burns from Homeless Action Scotland calls on the Scottish Government to extend the eviction ban until they can convene a short life action group on eviction protocols while we exit the COVID pandemic and return to normality. Homeless Action Scotland note that the most recent quarterly report f

In the fifth in the Scottish Land Commission's ‘Land &’ blog series, senior policy officer David Stewart explores why land for housing matters for much more than homes – it has an impact on the economy, the environment, and the wellbeing of everyone in Scotland. Land for housin