Publication - Statistics

Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) A Practitioners Guide (2026)

Published: 3 July 2026
Directorate: Tackling Child Poverty and Social Justice Directorate
Topic: Building, planning and design, Housing
ISBN: 9781807753399

Updated guidance for Housing Need and Demand Assessment, for Practitioners, (2026)

Chapter 5: Specialist Provision

Section 1 - Introduction

What is Specialist Provision?

5.1 Specialist Provision refers to three broad categories of need covering seven types of housing or housing-related provision and are listed below. These support independent living for as long as possible and help to enable people to live well and with dignity.

Property Needs

1. Accessible and adapted housing

2. Wheelchair housing

3. Non-permanent housing e.g. for students, migrant workers, asylum seekers, refugees

Care and Support Needs

4(a) Supported provision e.g. care homes, sheltered housing, hostels and refuges

5(a) Care and support needs for independent living (excluding the groups in 5(b) and 5(c) below).

5(b) Care and support needs for homeless households 5(c) Care and support needs for children living in poverty

Locational or Land Needs

5.1 Site provision e.g. sites/ pitches for Gypsy/ Travellers and sites for Travelling Showpeople, city centre locations for student accommodation.

5.2 This chapter must include estimates of future need.

Please note:

Gypsy/ Traveller issues may require cross border considerations based on travel routes. The Scottish Government is planning to commission a Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Needs Toolkit to help authorities evidence the accommodation needs of Gypsy/Travellers. The project is currently on pause until further notice. As soon as the project is again live, and we hope this will be in 2026, this guidance will be updated
locational need may also be for non-permanent accommodation e.g. student accommodation in town centres or near the college/ university. Other more innovative or aspirational `locational need' may be for certain types of Specialist Provision e.g. properties within close proximity to shops and services or in groups (villages) to allow support services to be managed and delivered more effectively
with the health and social care agenda, this may come more to the fore so that in future there will be more planning collaboration over the provision of nursing/care homes, residential homes etc
prevalence rates of a specialist housing need may be used as one way in which to estimate what the future rate may be

5.3 The HNDA should focus on the scale and type of Specialist Provision required rather than on an individual’s illness, condition or equality group. For clarification on the features of Accessible Housing, refer to refer to relevant building standards and guidance.

5.4 Any Specialist Provision which requires an additional unit of housing to be made available can be expressed as proportion of the total additional future additional units as calculated in Chapter 4.

5.5 When undertaking this section of the HNDA, planners and housing practitioners should engage with health and social care planners to share evidence, identify needs and plan for solutions across health, social care and housing. Housing Contribution Statements in Joint Strategic Commissioning Plans will be useful to focus discussion.

Core Output 3

5.6 For robust and credible status HNDAs must satisfy all core outputs and processes, including Core Output 3:

Specialist Provision:

Identifies the contribution that Specialist Provision plays in enabling people to live well, with dignity and independently for as long as possible
identifies any gap(s)/ shortfall(s) in that provision and the future level and type of provision required
considers evidence regarding property needs, care and support needs and locational/ land needs
undertakes consultation with all appropriate stakeholders who represent the views of those people who this chapter may impact upon and reports on the findings of such consultation
gives due consideration to the provisions of the Equality Act (2010)
uses time series where possible

Application in the LHS and LDP

5.7 Some areas where Specialist Provision may inform the LHS are:

estimated number of new accessible houses required in future
estimated number of wheelchair accessible homes required in future
estimated number of in-situ adaptations required in future
better use of existing adapted properties
estimated scale of home care and support services needed in future
estimated need for future residential/ care home places
estimated need for future Gypsy/ Traveller accommodation provision
estimated need for future Showpeople site provision

5.8 Some examples of where Specialist Provision should inform LDPs are:

amount and site of land allocated for Gypsy/ Traveller sites and pitches
innovative housing solutions for older people, where cross border joint planning may be used to provide supported housing for an ageing population

Section 2 – Content and Evidence Contents

5.9 Some of the people listed below may have similar needs, despite their individual illness, health condition or equality characteristics. The following types of Specialist Provision should be considered and recorded in the templates provided:

1. Accessible and adapted housing

2. Wheelchair housing

3. Non-permanent housing

(refers to single person accommodation and multiple occupation, for example homeless people, students, migrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees),

4. Supported provision

This refers to care homes, sheltered housing, hostels and refuges etc.

5(a) Care and Support Services for independent living

5(b) Care and support services for households or households at risk of homelessness

5(c) Care and support service delivered at home for children in poverty

6. Site provision

(refers to pitches, communal facilities, yard storage, suitable access and serviced sites etc. for Gypsy/Travellers and Travelling Showpeople).

5.10 When evidencing the above, the following, should be considered:

disabled people
older people
neurodivergent people
people with autism
people with learning disabilities
people with deafness, sight loss and dual sensory loss
people who are vulnerable, frail, living with dementia, needing support to remain at home/living in the community
people with mental health problems
people with complex needs
people leaving supported accommodation – persons with convictions, care leavers, people with high support needs currently either in long term care in 69 hospital or out of area placement, those discharged from hospital or a similar institution
people who require supported accommodation – for example at risk families, people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and those who cannot live independently
people who have been in temporary accommodation for over two years
young people transitioning to independent living for the first time
ethnic minorities, including migrants, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and refugees
Gypsy/Travellers
Travelling Showpeople
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (local authorities are encouraged to consider the findings of the report ‘Inclusive Housing and Social Care for Older LGBT+ People’ which considers the needs of older LGBT+ people in Scotland)
Key workers
Armed forces/ veterans

Steps to Draft this Chapter

5.11 A step-by-step approach to evidencing Specialist Provision is set out below. This includes a set of seven Specialist Provision templates that indicate what information you must consider.

5.12 Local authorities working as regional partnerships may decide to undertake evidence Specialist Provision at both local authority and regional level. Partnerships should consider whether the delivery of some types of Specialist Provision would benefit from planning at a regional level, e.g. land for Gypsy/ Traveller sites or future housing for those requiring supported provision. Steps include:

Step 1 - decide what evidence is needed to inform the LHS and LDP and what geography is required

Step 2 - gather evidence to populate the Specialist Provision Templates

Step 3 - address any evidence gaps by using, for example, bespoke data, consultation or local survey

Step 4 - analyse the data and populate templates Step 5 - agree the draft templates with the HMP

Step 6 - consult with those people represented in the templates

Step 7 - reflect any stakeholder feedback in the templates and report on the consultation findings in the templates

Using the Evidence

5.13 The term ‘evidence’ should be regarded in a broad sense in relation to Specialist Provision in order to maximise the pool of information that can be used.

5.14 Evidence can include statistics, research, policies and strategies – though this should not extend to anecdotal evidence. The Specialist Provision Evidence Finder is grouped under each of these evidence types. Stakeholder feedback or consultation is also a valid source of evidence. Good practice would be viewed as a using a mix of different types of information. It may be necessary to collect further evidence to address any information gaps. With the health and social care agenda in mind Joint Commissioning Plan Housing Contribution Statements may also be a useful source of evidence. If there are gaps in the data which will be addressed in future you should list what the gaps are, when they will be addressed and how they will be used to inform housing policy and land use.

Specialist Provision Templates

5.15 Each of the eight Specialist Provision templates are set out at Annex B.

Required for HNDA

1. Accessible and Adapted Provision

National policies

National policies

Local policies/strategies

Local policies/strategies

Property needs (key section)

e.g. low level appliances, stair rails, barriers free, sheltered housing, housing with care

Suitable for

e.g. people with limited mobility and/or dexterity, need for low level care

Evidence (key section)

1) the current type and level of needs and provision

2) any gaps or shortfalls in needs & provision

3) future type and level of needs & provision required

External stakeholder consultation & engagement

Who was consulted with and how was the consultation undertaken? What were the consultation findings?

Some Key Data Sources

Some useful sources of data for this template include: Scottish Households Survey, Scottish House Condition Survey, Care Homes Census, 2022 Census, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Government Health and Community Care Statistics.