Dr Jenny Preece, from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), reflects on a recent event hosted by the Centre for Ageing Better, where researchers unveiled a national evaluation of home improvement services, highlighting their impact on dignity,  independence, and housing cond

Shelter Scotland's Ndaye Lisa Badji-Churchill responds to statistics which reveal that Black People and People of Colour (BPoC) in Scotland are at the sharp end of the housing emergency.

Prof Kenneth Gibb outlines how CaCHE research played a key role in shaping Northern Ireland’s new intermediate rental tenure—offering affordable options for those priced out of homeownership and market rent. During the Covid-19 lockdowns, CaCHE undertook a research project that play

Jimmy Black relives a few housing decades with Laurie Naumann, a campaigner on single homelessness, and a founder of Kingdom Housing Association. This is a story about Laurie Naumann, who recently retired after 44 years as a board member at Kingdom Housing Association. But it’s also a step bac

Jimmy Black cycled to Stornoway to meet Calum (Barney) MacKay, chair of TPAS Scotland and long-standing tenant activist. Barney is a trade unionist, and that explains a lot. Trades unions teach their active members how to do many useful things, including basic skills, like how to run a meeting or th

Jimmy Black meets the energetic Evie Copland, multi-award-winner and housing evangelist. “The biggest problem is … how do I change the world with this?” Evie Copland is finishing her Master's in Housing Studies, and she has been a distinguished student. In 2021 she won the Malcolm

Below is a full transcript of episode 66 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Martin Wilkie-McFarlane on Wellhouse, regulatory intervention and more'. Listen to the episode here.

“Compulsory purchase reform is absolutely critical because we do need a backstop if landowners aren't prepared to come to the table on reasonable terms.” In this episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black speak to two guests who have new proposals to hel

Below is a full transcript of episode 65 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled ‘Rural housing: Public land acquisition and the Right to Live with Hamish Trench and Ailsa Raeburn'. Listen to the episode here.

“We go into this project not looking for awards but it's good actually to recognise the contribution of our staff and it's also a good way for our suppliers and the other stakeholders in this to be recognised as well. So it's a win-win-win for customers, us and the contractors.” If you c

Jimmy Black digs into the Scottish Land Commission’s new report, Community Land Scotland’s “Right to Live” and living on Solid Ground.

A trip to Greenock to see the award-winning retrofit project at Prospecthill Court for the Scottish Housing News Podcast provides Jimmy Black with renewed vigour regarding the potential for multi-storey to play a part in Scotland's housing landscape. Take an elderly multi high above the Clyde on an

Following a conversation with Simon Fitzpatrick for the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Jimmy Black thinks about wheels and lifts, beautiful new Blackwood Homes and folks stuck up thousands of tenement stairs. Wheels. Perhaps architects should have an app which lets them push a virtual pram through e

Jimmy Black hears about some great work happening in Perth & Kinross; then thinks about people excluded from the housing market by high prices and poverty. We’re running out of words. We’ve used “housing emergency” to explain the failure of our housing markets to provide

For the next edition of Our Housing Heritage, journalist and digital history specialist Chris Holme shares the story of how First World War servicemen came to reside in the rural village of Longniddry. Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes f

In the latest article in the ongoing Our Housing Heritage series, Scottish Housing News discusses the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915. In the absence of social housing, families across the UK in 1915 were at the mercy of private landlords who could hike rents and evict tenants at will with little restr

The Springburn office of ng homes is named after Ned Donaldson. But who was Ned Donaldson? Kieran Findlay recalls the contribution of the activist and the post-war battle to stop the privatisation of council housing at Merrylee. It was a cold sleety December day in 1951. Slum landlordism and sublett

Duncan Smith, who works in the social housing sector, has contributed this piece as part of his quest for more information about housing architect George Gibson. Several years ago, just after starting my current job, I undertook some research on the properties we were refurbishing at the time. I fou

The Scottish Government has called on UK Government ministers to urgently deliver a targeted energy bill discount to protect customers in greatest need and drive down high fuel poverty rates. The final report of the Social Tariff Working Group – comprising energy suppliers, consumer and fuel p

The Scottish winter fuel payment challenge is being livestreamed today. The petition for judicial review in the case of Fanning and Fanning v the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Scottish Ministers is being heard before Lady Hood in the Court of Session. Proceedings began yesterday a

The Scottish Government has announced that it will abandon its flagship plan to require homeowners to switch to greener heating systems shortly after purchasing a new home, a decision which has sparked a diverse range of reactions from political leaders, environmental groups, and industry represent

A project to help combat fuel poverty through solar power has been shortlisted as a finalist for the UK Roofing Awards 2025.

Scottish Labour has lodged a motion which aims to protect children’s rights as the number of children in temporary accommodation reaches record levels. In a Parliamentary debate yesterday ahead of stage two of the Housing (Scotland) Bill being considered next month, Scottish Labour housing spo

ARK Consultancy has raised £2,000 for The Ootsider, a Livingston based Community Interest Company which provides sleeping coats for rough sleepers. The ARK team met John Keogh, founder and CEO of The Ootsider at the CIH Scotland Housing Festival last week where they heard more about the compan

Further measures to ensure people receive the required support before they experience the trauma of homelessness will be introduced as part of amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, housing minister Paul McLennan said today. The Bill currently places a stronger importance on preventing homelessn

The City of Edinburgh Council has voted to approve Social Bite’s proposal to move its supported accommodation facility to a new site in Granton.

A new report published by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) aims to address the shortfall in official data regarding landlords within the Scottish Private Rented Sector (PRS). 'The changing characteristics and motivations of Scottish private rented sector landlords and their i

The Scottish Government has been urged to carry out a more targeted review of anti-social behaviour in the housing sector following publication of the Independent Working Group on Anti-social Behaviour in Scotland. Published last month, the review report included recommendations for strategic and su

Aoife Deery from Citizens Advice Scotland explores how progress is being made but more needs to be done to provide a rented sector that people deserve in Scotland. It’s hard to believe that less than 50 years ago in Scotland, if you found yourself living in poor conditions or worse, homeless,

MSPs are to consider whether to bring in a permanent ban on landlords evicting tenants during winter.

A new benefit for pensioners is now open for applications in 13 more local authority areas in Scotland.   Pension Age Disability Payment has been extended to Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Falkirk, Fife, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Perth and Kinross and Stir

Cairn Housing Association’s chief executive Audrey Simpson has spoken out against the UK government’s planned £5 billion welfare cuts, warning they will have devastating consequences for disabled people and those already struggling to make ends meet. The government’s proposal

Concerns have been raised about how people in Scotland could be impacted by plans announced by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall to cut £5 billion of UK government spending on welfare by the end of the decade. The measures, which the government argues are needed to “fi

The Scottish Government will invest nearly £2.2 million to enable the Wise Group to provide wrap-around support to individuals and families on low incomes in six local authority areas. The investment, from the Tackling Child Poverty Fund, was announced by social justice secretary Shirley-Anne