From food to heating, cost of living is already disproportionately high in rural and island areas. As energy prices continue to soar, the outlook for rural communities is extremely concerning. Last year, on Scottish Housing Day, we shared two blogs which explored the reasons that rural homes are often far less energy efficient than thosecontinue reading
rural housing Archives
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
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
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
Report highlights need for better resourcing for ‘crucial’ work of rural housing facilitators
Rural Housing Scotland is named as one of a handful of key players in the provision of affordable rural housing in a new report commissioned by the Scottish Land Commission. However, the report’s authors note the impact of this “crucial” work is “constrained by time and resource”. The ‘Role of Land in Enabling New Housingcontinue reading
Construction of Rural Homes in a Post-Covid Era: Interview with Kenny MacLeod
Kenny MacLeod is a Director of MacLeod Construction – an Argyll-based construction firm and timber kit manufacturer with 45 years’ experience of building new homes across Argyll and beyond. In this interview we ask him about some of the challenges faced by rural developers and the approaches and solutions he believes are required to tacklecontinue reading
Post-COVID rural Scotland needs a post-war style ‘blood transfusion’
“The Highlands have been subject to steady de-population for the last half-century and have been treated like a dying patient to whom people have been handing out hot gruel, etc., with the patient merely grumbling and growling as it went into a decline… The one urgent thing is to stop any further migration. In additioncontinue reading