Opinion

Following up on a previous blog in Scottish Housing News regarding market volatility, Ross Barty provides an update on what has changed in the last six months and what housing associations and councils in Scotland should be mindful of now and over the next few months. A new market dynamic is impacti

While the finalised version of the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) has environmental considerations at its heart, Alastair Wood asks whether it will have the ability to deliver on the Scottish Government’s 2045 net zero ambitions and whether planning will still be able to support the

Both residents and businesses are benefiting from Clyde Gateway's recent investments in green spaces, says Ian Manson. For Clyde Gateway, Scotland’s most ambitious regeneration project, there has been an increased focus on creating new green spaces. Aside from the many environmental reasons br

In a guest blog for the CIH Scotland website, Lucy Malarkey talks about the actions needed to create a truly inclusive culture within organisations. Creating and maintaining an inclusive culture doesn’t happen by accident and it doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it requires action and that act

Hamish Trench talks about the recent Scottish Government consultation on the Land Reform Bill and the Scottish Land Commission’s response. Over the last four months, the Scottish Government has been consulting on its proposals for a new Land Reform Bill. This is a key stage towards development

The new Tenant Protection Act falls short of expectations, argues the Legal Services Agency. In October 2022, the Scottish Parliament passed the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill (which has now received royal assent). This bill aims to introduce new measures to protect tenants in th

TECH is launching its Analogue to Digital telephony switch-off awareness campaign with a countdown to the 2025 switch-off. Steph Elliot explains more in the monthly TECH column from the SFHA. In 2025 the current, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

Having spent the past 40 years working in housing throughout the country including in Edinburgh, Keith Anderson says it is clear that most people cannot plan for or achieve lifelong well-being while faced with uncontrolled rent rises, insecure tenancies, and house price growth which outstrips income

Will Scarlett, founder and director of Scarlett Land and Development, highlights why rent freezes are not helpful for tenants in the long run.  The 6-month temporary rent freeze in Scotland (Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Bill) has shocked the property market – particularly,

Craig Fairfoull, head of sales and marketing at independent developer Dundas, reveals why Scotland's first time buyers are struggling to get on the property ladder. The outcry over the scrapping of the top rate of tax and the inevitable U-turn have served as cloud cover for a growing fiscal inj

Letting agent Riccardo Giovanacci argues that private landlords are under assault from a government which has no intention of listening to their concerns. It is a fundamental principle of a functioning democracy that parties, when in power, should pay at least lip service to the concept of balancing

Ryan Cossar from the Scottish Futures Trust argues that the whole life performance of new affordable homes must be at the forefront of net zero calculations. Recent Government data shows that as much as 80% of the carbon emissions from buildings can be attributed to housing.

Gilson Gray’s Marcus DiRollo provides an overview of the Scottish Government’s rent freeze and eviction proposals. On the face of it, few could object to a ban on evictions and a rent freeze in a bid to support those in need during a cost-of-living crisis. However, the best of intentions

Finance director Nick Pollard provides an economic analysis of the Scottish Government's potential freeze on social housing rents from 2023-24. In 2020-21 the overall rent collected by the social housing sector was £1.39 billion. That doesn’t include last year’s increases.

In the monthly TECH column from the SFHA, Steph Elliot introduces the Healthier Homes initiative. The Healthier Homes initiative, supported by TECH, is a four-phased project to understand, test and evaluate if the combination of digital technologies, customer engagement, partnership working, an