Opinion

Ypeople CEO Janet Haugh gives an update on the charity’s continuing work. The world is currently facing a pandemic, the scale of which has not been seen in our lifetime. COVID-19 is causing us to adapt and rapidly change not only our services, but our lives and the lives of our families and co

Property law can seem boring and unimportant to some people at times. In the face of a crisis, property law often seems decidedly unimportant. People need to live somewhere, though, and opportunistic and/or thoughtless landlords might use a situation of crisis (or be completely or wilfully oblivious

The weeks ahead will be the most challenging we have ever faced. Social housing professionals have a critical role to play in providing advice and support to thousands of worried and frightened tenants, some of them in sheltered housing and others in supported living units or care homes. Others

SFHA chief executive Sally Thomas has written the following message outlining the organisation’s latest coronavirus response plan. Since last week, developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak have escalated significantly. There is no question that these are challenging and unprecedented ti

The Scottish Government’s Planning and Architecture Division explains its decision to extend the National Planning Framework 4 Call for Ideas deadline until 30 April.

Simon Allison looks at common issues for employers during the coronavirus outbreak such as whether an employer can lay off staff and what happens if they are forced to close their premises. Lay-off/short time working clauseIn the unlikely event that your employees have a “lay off” or sho

Ahead of tomorrow’s expected ministerial statement on the Scottish Government’s eviction measures, Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown outlines immediate actions required to assist rough sleepers and help prevent further homelessness. The ongoing coronavirus emergency will have d

Housing minister Kevin Stewart details his meeting with public health minister Joe FitzPatrick to discuss COVID-19 and how it will impact those who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing homelessness. Last week I was joined by public health minister Joe FitzPatrick at a meeting of the Homeless

After reading articles from Martin Armstrong and David Bookbinder about the relative merits of large and small housing associations, Mark McLintock from MainStreet Consulting carried out some analysis and details his findings. MainStreet has worked with some big housing associations and some sm

Nineteen organisations have now signed up to the TEC in Housing Charter this year, pledging to support tenants to be able to live longer at home using digital technology, writes SFHA TECH engagement officer Graeme Hamilton. (from left) John Ferguson MBE, honorary president at Parkhead Housing Associ

SFHA’s social insight lead Michael McLaughlin on the recent Housing Service Design Champions Training. Members of SFHA’s innovation community, which includes SFHA members and staff, recently took part in an exciting three-day training course delivered by the Scottish Digital Academy.

CaCHE director Professor Ken Gibb gives an overview of its exciting new Scottish Funding Council project, 'Evaluating options & outcomes in the retrofit of pre-1919 Glasgow tenement housing', which was launched last week. On 5 March 2020, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Ev

Social and Sustainable Capital founder and CEO, Ben Rick, discusses housing issues in the Scottish market and how social investment could provide an alternative solution. Last month, new figures were released that showed Scotland had the highest rate of deaths in the homeless population in the UK: 3

Hidden homelessness can mean being hidden from sight, it can mean hidden from evidence, and it can also mean hiding your true self in order to access services, explains Shelter Scotland’s policy advocacy officer Jessica Husbands.

Dr Gareth James and Dr Jennifer Harris provide an overview of new research from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence which illustrates the role and potential of alternative dispute resolution in the UK private rented sector. This is part of a wider piece of work funded by the TDS Charita