Representing you on Housing to 2040
In her blog, SFHA Director of External Affairs Carolyn Lochhead discusses Housing to 2040 Strategic Board and the closure of the Social Housing Resillience Group in recognition of this new forum.
By SFHA Director of External Affairs, Carolyn Lochhead
It’s been a time of real political turmoil in Scotland lately, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the centrality of Housing to 2040, which sets out the vision for housing in Scotland as well as a route map to get there.
The vision is ambitious, calling for high quality, sustainable homes that meet people’s needs within a well-functioning housing system working for sustainable communities.
However, the route map has been less straightforward, with a pandemic, cost of living crisis and now unexpected change of Scottish Government leadership all making the path to 2040 more complicated than we might have anticipated.
SFHA has been closely involved with the development and implementation of Housing to 2040, being supportive wherever possible and critical whenever necessary. Governance is an important part of this role, so we’re pleased to let you know that the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board is now up and running, with our Chief Executive Sally Thomas part of the membership. The Board will lead progress towards the delivery of Scotland’s 20-year housing plan, and includes representatives from housing providers, landlords, housing developers and tenant organisations. It will meet three times a year: the first meeting took place last month, with then-Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Shona Robison co-chairing the group alongside Cllr Maureen Chalmers, COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, with the Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights Patrick Harvie in attendance.
In recognition of this new forum, we have now brought our Social Housing Resilience Group (SHRG) to a close. Beginning in 2020 as a response to the pandemic, the SHRG met daily at first, sharing information, identifying issues and helping to draft the many pieces of guidance that assisted the sector in navigating the unprecedented restrictions on movement and health protection requirements. With members from Scottish Government, SFHA, CIH Scotland, the Regulator and others, the group created a useful space to tackle issues facing the sector, and it therefore continued to meet regularly until earlier this year. SFHA will always be ready to work with partners whenever and wherever necessary, but for now all group members have agreed that the SHRG has served its purpose and can be retired. We would like to thank everyone who took part in the group during its lifetime.
We will keep our members closely informed of progress with Housing to 2040, through our regular member newsletters and CEO Forums.