Insight

Lucy Malarkey, founder and co-director of Positive About Inclusion, highlights why the housing sector must get better at talking about diversity to stand any chance of positive progression. As highlighted in the recent Inside Housing article, the lack of diversity at the leadership level in the sect

In her final blog for CIH Scotland, Viewpoint Housing Association's director of housing and support Esther Wilson looks back over her time as chair of the CIH Scotland board between 2018 and 2021. It’s natural that when something draws to an end, you reflect, and I have bee

The ongoing reverberations of the pandemic have made 2021 a unique year for the construction sector and residential property market. In this article, Queensberry Properties’ director, Steven Simpson, looks back on another challenging twelve months. As another pandemic-blighted year draws to a

Scotland Excel’s Construction, Transport and Environment portfolio lead Mary Mitchell reflects on the first six months in her new role and looks forward to 2022. I’ve been working closely with Scotland Excel since June 2019 when I was seconded from Perth and Kinross Council to work on a

Craig Sanderson retired after 44 years at the Link Group Ltd, 31 of those as CEO. TPAS chief executive Lesley Baird will step down soon after 25 years. On Episode 4 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, they cast their minds back to a time when modern housing associations were new and tenants s

Professor Duncan Maclennan from the University of Glasgow discusses how Australia is emerging as a key exemplar of the OECD’s concerns that unbalanced housing markets now impede inclusive growth and the implications for other housing markets.

Garry Burns from Homeless Action Scotland argues that nobody who is in employment should be over-charged for homeless accommodation. As part of our work in the Scottish Parliamentary election earlier this year we called for the Scottish Government to carry out a number of actions. One of these actio

As CIH Scotland publishes a policy paper setting out where it considers the Scottish Government should focus its whole rented sector reforms, national director Callum Chomczuk, argues why housing standards and tenants' rights should also be aligned. The housing system in Scotland is notori

As the world marks 2021 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Lorna Cameron, CEO of Horizon Housing Association, argues that Scotland must intensify efforts to tackle a critical accessible housing shortage that has left thousands of disabled people trapped in unsuitable homes. Slow progres

Scottish Housing News Podcast co-host Jimmy Black gives his take on today's new episode in which Professor Douglas Robertson tells SHN… if we can’t fix leaky roofs in private flats, how will we ever make them carbon neutral? Meantime, Cllr Anne Rendall reflects on £4.4 millio

In Co-Production Week, Doug Gibson from Homeless Network Scotland explores the layers of partnership and collaboration sitting behind the scaling up of Scotland’s Housing First ambition. More than 100 public and third sector leaders are coming together this morning to learn about and discuss t

Andrew Cowie, a member of the Accounts Commission, discusses future reporting on the performance of Scotland’s housing benefit services. Every year, Scotland’s councils pay out £1.4 billion in housing benefit. Council benefit services are a lifeline service to many needing vital he

As social landlords gear up to calculate rent proposals for the year ahead, Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations director David Bookbinder outlines why the post-lockdown landscape could be the most difficult yet. Grappling with the next rent increase is never easy, but thi

East Lothian Council leader Norman Hampshire outlines the local authority's reaction to the 4th draft National Planning Framework (NPF4). The draft NPF4 provides a spatial strategy and core planning policies to guide where development and infrastructure should go.

Paul Ellis, chief executive of Ecol­ogy Build­ing So­ci­ety Agenda, discusses how climate change can be fought on the homes front. COP26 has been described as "the last best hope for the world to get its act together" on climate change, and the science could not be clearer. Climate c