The housing crisis is having an increasingly worrying effect across sectors in rural Scotland. Good employment opportunities already exist in many remote and rural areas, particularly with the post-pandemic increase in ‘work from home’ opportunities, but this is of little value if there is nowhere for workers to live. A recent survey on the Islecontinue reading
Planning approved for community-led housing development in Braemar
We are delighted that planning permission has been secured for 15 new affordable homes in Braemar. The community-led housing development, which has received significant financial support from Cairngorms National Park Authority, The Scottish Land Fund and charity loan funder CAF Venturesome, was designed following extensive consultation with Braemar community. Delivery of the much-needed homes, whichcontinue reading
Radical Rural Housing
In this blog, Rural Housing Scotland CEO, Derek Logie, reflects on the need to develop new approaches to solve the long-standing housing issues that are driving a youth exodus from our rural areas. Last month, I was asked to make a presentation on rural homelessness to a conference taking place in Canada. I was stuckcontinue reading
Community views sought as new development officer starts work to deliver Smart Clachan project on Isle of Uist
A development officer has started work for Rural Housing Scotland to take a new housing initiative forward in Uist. Donna Young, from Uist, will be coordinating the delivery of Smart Clachan, a community based housing development to support repopulation, by creating affordable housing and shared facilities. Rural Housing Scotland is working in partnership with Stòras Uibhist tocontinue reading
Tomduie Clachan – A pioneering project to help tackle the rural housing crisis and climate emergency
In anticipation of the upcoming United Nations COP-26 Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow, a pioneering new project has been announced in Comrie, Perthshire. Tomduie Clachan is a proposed zero-carbon community housing project at Comrie Croft, one of Scotland’s leading ecotourism destinations. Tomduie Clachan is designed as the flagship in plans for Comrie Croft’scontinue reading
Scottish Government home buyer schemes not fit for purpose in remote rural and island Scotland
National home ownership support schemes often fail to meet their full potential in rural and island areas as they do not recognise that the circumstances surrounding housing are different to those in urban areas. Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) is one such scheme. It helps eligible buyers, on low to moderate incomes, buy a homecontinue reading
Smart Clachan initiative offers sustainable housing solution for Uist
Rural Housing Scotland will lead the development of an ambitious new initiative to tackle the interlinked issues of depopulation, demographic change and the climate crisis in Uist. In partnership with community landowner Stòras Uibhist and with funding from Emsée Fairbairn Foundation, Rural Housing Scotland plan to develop Smart Clachan which will incorporate cooperative community-led housing,continue reading
Scottish Housing Day (Part 2) – The realities of trying to improve home energy efficiency in our remote rural and island communities
This year, Scottish Housing Day is focused on the role of housing in the climate emergency. We have released two blogs on this theme. You can read our first Scottish Housing Day blog here. Our homes are responsible for 13% of Scotland’s emissions which means, in order to meet our ambitious net-zero targets, we needcontinue reading
Scottish Housing Day (Part 1) – Home energy improvement challenges in rural and island communities
With COP26 just around the corner, this year’s Scottish Housing Day is focused on the role of housing in the climate emergency. With this theme in mind, we have released two blogs looking at the difficulties rural households can face to implement important energy efficiency improvements. You can read our second blog here. Our homescontinue reading
Why working to tackle the rural housing crisis matters to me: Interview with Kirsty Glover
Our newest team member and recent graduate, Kirsty Glover, tells us about her passion for rural issues which led to her dissertation comparing rural depopulation in northern Spain and the Scottish Highlands. As a resident of Applecross, Kirsty also shares her thoughts on what better rural housing would mean to communities like hers and explorescontinue reading