Housing to 2040: island communities impact assessment

Step One: Developing a clear understanding of the objectives

In the 2018/19 Programme for Government[i], the Scottish Government made a commitment to plan together with stakeholders for how Scotland’s homes and communities should look and feel in 2040 and the options and choices to get there.

Since our commitment in the 2018/19 Programme for Government, we have engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders and with communities and individuals across Scotland, including island communities, to help create a shared vision for 2040.

Extensive stakeholder engagement and public consultation between 2018 and 2020 has helped to shape and inform a Housing to 2040 Vision and set of Principles for Housing to 2040 and route map. The Housing to 2040 vision sets out what we are aiming for and the route map shows how we will get there.

The Housing to 2040 Vision and Principles are framed around four themes:

• A well-functioning housing system
• High quality sustainable homes
• Sustainable communities
• Homes that meet people’s needs.

The provision of warm, safe, affordable and accessible housing that meets people’s needs is fundamental to our aspiration to deliver economic, environmental and social progress in Scotland.

Housing has a vital role to play in meeting many of our ambitions for Scotland: tackling child and fuel poverty; ending homelessness; tackling inequality; strengthening communities; helping stem rural depopulation; improving health and wellbeing; addressing the global climate emergency and promoting inclusive growth. Through the housing system, we want to support our most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities and create vibrant places that are sustainable and promote wellbeing.  We know that there are aspects of the housing system that reduce inequality but we also recognise that some elements have been a source of inequality in the past. Housing, and our approach to Housing to 2040, therefore has a substantial role to play in contributing to the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework[ii] and National Outcomes[iii] and UN Sustainable Development Goals.[iv]

The Housing to 2040 route map will help us achieve our aim that, by 2040, everyone will have a safe, high-quality and affordable home that meets their needs in the place they want to be. The route map is set out across four parts, aligned to the main areas of feedback we received from stakeholders during extensive engagement and consultation:

Part 1 - More homes at the heart of great places

Part 2 - Affordability and choice

Part 3 - Affordable warmth and zero emissions homes

Part 4 - Improving the quality of all homes

Housing to 2040 aims to deliver the vision for everyone in Scotland, including island communities, by understanding and identifying what positive measures need to be taken forward to address, promote and ultimately reduce inequality in housing outcomes across all housing tenures by 2040 and build strong sustainable communities.

The Housing to 2040 vision, principles and route map provide a strategic framework to steer housing related policies, projects and programmes over the next 20 years to deliver better outcomes for people in their homes and communities. The experience of island communities has played an important part in shaping Housing to 2040 from the outset - not just in terms of thinking through how actions in the route map will bring benefits to rural and island communities, but also through the inclusion of specific commitments to address the unique challenges faced by rural and island communities to securing the right number, type and quality of homes to enable communities to thrive and grow, young people to stay, and new and existing residents to find a home to meet their needs.

Each policy or plan included in the route map, will, as it is developed in detail, consider the potential for delivering benefits to all communities throughout Scotland, including island communities.