Opinion

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

Nick Waugh, commercial director at Buccleuch Property, which is jointly developing Shawfair, argues that new towns are best placed to adapt to residents' changing needs.

Chartered tax adviser Ian McMonagle warns opportunistic landlords of HMRC's interest in letting property to accommodate delegates at forthcoming COP26 in Glasgow in November. Any Glaswegians dreaming of making thousands of pounds from renting out their homes to COP26 visitors this November shou

Debra Campbell, learning and development officer at SHARE, provides an insight into her own experience of Dementia. A staggering one in 14 of over 65’s will develop a form of dementia though this isn’t an inevitable factor of age, so just how does it affect some of us but not others?

On behalf of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, Cllr Kenny Mclean highlights the partners working to tackle empty homes in Glasgow and the benefits the work is bringing throughout the city. 

John Rodger, partner and property specialist at accountants Chiene + Tait, discusses the potential consequences of the new Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT). As the inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell fire continues, so too do financial repercussions from the tragedy which left 72 people dead.

Scotland introduced a new private sector residential letting vehicle, known as the private residential tenancy (PRT), when the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force in December 2017. As part of that regime, a legal device was made available to those who had rented a propert