More than £1.75 billion is being allocated to councils in a major Scottish Government commitment to stimulate investment in affordable housing. The announcement comes as figures published today show the highest levels of activity in the affordable house-building sector in Scotland since the early 1980s. Continue reading £1.75 billion boost for social housing
Over the past year almost 113,000 awards have been made under the Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) scheme, with a total value of £51.9 million, according to the latest figures released by the Scottish Government. Local authorities paid out the money during the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, with an average payment of £460. Continue reading £52 million spent to mitigate effects of Westminster’s Bedroom Tax
Scotland’s Chief Statistician yesterday released Social Tenants in Scotland 2015, a new Official Statistics publication that presents an overview of social tenants and social rented housing in Scotland for the year 2015 covering topic areas such as stock, household characteristics, housing flows, and rents and income levels. Continue reading Social tenants in Scotland: latest statistics published
Andy Wightman MSP, Housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, has urged ministers to consider stronger regulations to address problems caused by a sharp rise in properties available for short-term rent.
Mr Wightman, Scottish Green MSP for Lothian, highlighted that a number of his Edinburgh constituents have been affected by the growth of the sector.
He said: “We are looking at a situation where the residential population in parts of Edinburgh may substantially disappear within the next decade. One constituent has had very audible sex parties taking place in the flat above him. An elderly couple are now living out the rest of their years in a tenement stair that has lost all of its permanent residents.
“Others are living with young families in a state of stress and anxiety due to the rent-seeking behaviour of a growing number of property owners. It’s disappointing that the Housing Minister says he has no plans to tighten regulation of residential property use.
“We should look at the planning system and use class orders to ensure that communities and councils have the tools they need to regulate the residential character of the city centres and many rural villages affected.” Continue reading Wightman urges better regulation of short-term lets
MHA is out of high engagement Continue reading Christmas comes early for Muirhouse Housing Association
Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association has launched a new volunteering service to combat social exclusion among their residents, an issue that disproportionately affects older people.
As a leading not-for-profit provider of quality housing for older people in Scotland, employing over 500 staff in more than 200 housing developments, the new volunteering service aims to make a positive difference to Hanover’s customers’ lives as well as the wider community.
The framework will encourage Hanover residents to volunteer in their developments and local communities, as well as empower Hanover staff to establish high quality, customer focused volunteering opportunities.
Delivered by a newly appointed Volunteer Coordinator, the framework will also promote the take up of volunteering within developments from local communities and third sector organisations.
Since taking up the new role, Edinburgh-born Jim Brown has carried out in depth analysis of Hanover’s current volunteering capacity and the range of social activities residents participate in. Over the next few months Jim will meet with staff and residents to consult in the development of the new framework, ensuring it meets the needs, requirements and abilities of those who will benefit most from it.
Jim said: “I am delighted to have been selected as Volunteer Coordinator for an organisation that really cares about its residents, employees and the communities it is part of. I am very much looking forward to getting out to our developments across Scotland to meet with residents and staff and encouraging them to volunteer and become more socially active.
“I have volunteered throughout my life, as a befriender for an adult with learning difficulties as well as managing a youth football team, so I fully understand and appreciate the benefits volunteering brings to everyone involved.”
Hanover’s Chief Executive, Helen Murdoch said: “Customer service is at the heart of what we do. It is our priority to help all our residents lead rich and fulfilling lives and we are confident that by encouraging residents, local communities and third sector organisations to take up volunteering, that we will see a hugely positive social impact on the lives of everyone involved.”
City of Edinburgh Council tenants’ views are being sought on the Housing Service’s five year improvement plan and 2017/18 budget.
The 92 year-old resident of a Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association development in Edinburgh has spoken of her delight at her grandson winning a Paralympic silver medal when he visited her at her home.
Edinburgh born Scott Quin won silver in the S14 100m Breaststroke and visited his grandma, May Patton, at her flat in Juniper Green on Monday. May has lived in Hanover’s St Margaret’s Court for almost 36 years, having previously worked as a sheltered housing manager at the development, retiring in 1991.
Scott was given only a three per cent chance of survival when he was born with Crouzon syndrome and underwent major reconstructive surgery as a baby to break almost every bone in his face; as a result he has learning difficulties and tunnel vision.
May said that watching the nail-bitingly close race from her living room in Edinburgh, in which Scott missed out on gold by just three-hundredths of a second, was “superb” and that she “erupted with joy” when he took silver.
After the race, Scott called his Grandma from Rio to tell her of his win and May joked to “mind your time for the phone bill!”
May has been with Scott every step of the way since he started swimming at the age of seven and has attended as many of his swim meets as possible over the years, seeing him win silver in the SB14 100m Breaststroke at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow last year. She still goes every Wednesday with her daughter, Scott’s mother Eileen, to collect him from his strength and conditioning training at Heriot Watt University.
May said: “I know all the hard work that he has put in and the countless 4am starts for his morning training sessions. Seeing him beam with happiness and standing on the podium in Rio is something I will never forget!”
Scott trains up to nine times a week at the Commonwealth pool. He said his time at the Rio Paralympics was an “incredible experience”, adding that he and his fellow team GB athletes would alternate wearing their blue GB tracksuit one day and their white the next.
Tammy Easton, Development Manager at St Margaret’s Court, said: “We are all so immensely proud of Scott. All of the development was egging him on and we can’t quite believe we’ve had a Paralympian visit us here!”
Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association has launched a new Facebook group for their residents, their friends and relatives to share news, views and useful tips and to ask any questions they may have about Hanover’s services.
‘Hanover Blether’ went live on Monday 29 August 2016 and was made a reality after a resident suggested it would be beneficial to have an online ‘hub’ to connect with other Hanover residents and to share their experiences, news about the local community, events and group activities as well as allowing their friends and family to easily interact with their loved ones.
The group is thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland and although it is maintained jointly by Hanover staff and Hanover residents, the group is completely independent and residents are encouraged to share their views on the organisation and about life in Hanover properties, good or bad.
The group also provides another, more informal, way for residents to get in touch with Hanover directly and to ask anything about the organisation and their tenancy. Hanover noted that the group was not to be used in emergencies or to report a repair, when the usual channels should be used.
Hanover resident, Patrick O’Shea, the brains behind the group said: “I thought it would be a good idea to give Hanover residents a platform to raise issues that they may have and to find out about the problems and experiences of other residents. I also felt that there are many good reasons for staying in Hanover and we should talk about those as well.”
Helen Murdoch, Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association Chief Executive, said: “I’m absolutely delighted Hanover Blether is up and running and look forward to seeing the tremendous benefits it will bring to both ourselves and to our Facebook users.
“Resident engagement is a key strategic priority for Hanover. More and more of our service users, their carers and their relatives are online, and Facebook is a great way to communicate, which will in turn help us to work closely with those people we engage with to improve our services. It will also provide a great forum for our residents to share tips and get to know each other.”
Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) has secured a new £35m private funding facility to support its plans to build over 480 homes for social and mid-market rent in Leith and North Edinburgh by 2020. Continue reading Port of Leith secures finance deal to build hundreds of homes
