Housing Review Group: strategic review of output

Housing Review Group: Strategic Review of Output

Background

1. The Housing Review Group (HRG) was established in June 2023 by SOLACE, COSLA, ALACHO and the Scottish Government to explore how to maximise opportunities to increase affordable housing supply or to re-balance provision through the use of existing housing supply. The group’s short-term remit has concluded and the final report is attached as Annex A below.

2. The HRG sought to boost cooperation between local and national government to meet our shared ambitions for developing a shared response to known and emerging challenges and existing funding constraints.

3. On 6 July, Solace Scotland, in collaboration with the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) published a report ‘Housing in Scotland: Current Context and Preparing for the Future’ which details their assessment of the housing challenges in Scotland and the steps needed to address it. The recommendations made in the SOLACE Housing report have been a key factor in the considerations of the HRG.

Some short-term recommendations of the SOLACE Housing Report reframed by HRG will be further developed, prioritised and completed where possible by the end of the current financial year. These can be found in paragraph 10 of the report. HRG has acknowledged that further work is needed across the medium-to-long-term with collaborative oversight at a senior level of local and national government.

4. Through its concluding report, the HRG has outlined the case for new governance arrangements to oversee at official level the operational delivery of affordable housing in the longer term, recognising the importance of housing for shared social and economic ambitions. The terms of reference for new governance arrangements remain to be confirmed, however, the board’s views on the substance of its output report and approval to continue joint working to agree detailed governance points. would be welcomed.

Scottish Government

16 October 2023