Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland

How the Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland was produced

Mid-way through the decade covered by Homes Fit for the 21 ^st Century, it was felt appropriate to reaffirm Scotland's shared public and private sector commitment to achieving delivery of the vision for affordable high quality homes which meet people's needs. In particular, the Scottish Government recognised that to achieve the vision, we need to maximise resources from across all sectors, and to galvanize the collaboration and commitment of every organisation and person involved in housing in Scotland to deliver continuing progress.

The Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland has come about from the work of the Housing Policy Advisory Group ( HPAG). This body comprised representatives from organisations and groups who are providing homes and delivering housing services, alongside representatives of the Scottish Government. The Group's remit was to monitor progress on delivery of current housing policies and strategies, identify barriers to delivery of those priorities and to recommend ways in which those barriers might be overcome.

In 2014, HPAG noted that a number of influential commissions and reports on housing and communities were being produced in response to demographic changes and new challenges. Many useful suggestions and ideas were being considered including those in the following publications:-

• Housing in Scotland - Report by Audit Scotland for the Auditor General and Accounts Commission - July 2013.
• Building the Rented Sector in Scotland - Homes for Scotland - December 2013.
• Final Report on the Review of Fuel Poverty Strategy - Fuel Poverty Forum - March 2014.
• The Land of Scotland and the Common Good - Report of the Land Reform Review Group - May 2014.
• Building a Better Scotland - The RICS Scottish Housing Commission Report - July 2014.
• Commission on Housing and Wellbeing - Independent Commission established by Shelter Scotland - reporting in May 2015.

These reports gave a message from the housing sector and others that delivery on priority areas of housing policy now needed renewed focus. HPAG therefore decided to produce a 3 to 5 year Joint Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland. The aim was to ensure delivery of the policy objectives of Homes Fit for the 21 ^st Century and subsequent Scottish Government strategy documents, such as the Sustainable Housing Strategy, Older People's Housing Strategy, Private Rented Sector Strategy, Town Centres Action Plan and the Scottish Planning Policy and National Planning Framework.

The development of the Joint Plan was focussed on a major Housing Event in November 2014, attended by 300 delegates. Prior to this event, there were a series of roundtable discussions to identify key issues and questions for discussion on the day. At the Event itself, delegates worked in groups to propose actions and priorities, and since then the Joint Housing Policy Delivery Group has overseen work to refine these actions into this Joint Plan.

HPAG had decided that all of this work should be based on the principle of co-production , as a means of encouraging participation by as many people and organisations as possible, in order to produce a jointly owned Housing Delivery Plan which could then be used to drive forward actions for the next five years.

Working together, the Scottish Government and HPAG members sought to open debate with stakeholders from across the Scottish housing system to identify the key issues to be addressed. Tenants, consumers and users, housing providers, local authorities, constructors and policy experts from a range of organisations were engaged in the series of discussions and debates prior to the Scottish Housing Event.