Housing to 2040: island communities impact assessment

Housing to 2040 is the culmination of extensive engagement with the housing sector, wider stakeholders and the public, including children and young people, to co-produce a vision for what we want Scotland’s homes and communities to look like by 2040. It sets Scotland’s first ever long-term national housing strategy to deliver good quality, energy efficient, zero carbon housing with access to outdoor space, transport links, digital connectivity and community services, and seeks to ensure that everyone has a home that is warm, safe, affordable, accessible and that meets their needs, no matter where in Scotland they live.

The engagement undertaken with those living in our island communities has helped to develop our understanding of how the availability and quality of homes in these communities could be improved, and of the unique challenges and opportunities island communities face. To address these, we have strengthened the underlying Vision and Principles, which will guide future policy development of commitments in Housing to 2040. We have also developed a set of actions in the Housing to 2040 route map that will ensure that the island communities will fully realise and benefit from the Housing to 2040 ambition. These actions include interventions which are designed to achieve beneficial impacts and can be applied according to the needs of different island communities, and ensure that Housing to 2040 will not be likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).

As the policy development work proceeds on key commitments and actions set out in Housing to 2040, we anticipate that full Island Community Impact Assessments will be required in a number of areas, including the development of the New Housing Standard, the design and development of schemes to deliver and support zero emission heating systems in existing homes and plans and strategies related to modernising construction.

A governance structure and a monitoring framework will be established so that we and our stakeholders can assess progress towards the Housing to 2040 vision across all of Scotland, and be held accountable for achieving the actions we have set out.