National Islands Plan: annual report 2021

Housing

Strategic Objective 4 – To improve housing

We committed to ensure that Housing to 2040 truly reflects the distinct needs of island communities.

This commitment has been fulfilled.

Housing to 2040, Scotland's long-term strategy for housing, was published in March 2021. It is the culmination of extensive engagement with the housing sector, wider stakeholders and the public to co-produce a vision for what we want Scotland's homes and communities to look and feel like by the end of 2040. Feedback received from those living in and working with island communities, as well as the findings from the National Islands Plan consultation, helped to inform the vision and strategy.

The distinct needs of island communities are reflected across the policies and commitments set out in Housing to 2040 and are summarised in part 1E of the strategy. Since publication of Housing to 2040, the Scottish Government has made a commitment to develop a Remote, Rural and Islands Housing action plan to meet the housing needs of, and retain and attract people to, those communities.

We committed to ensure that the regulation of short-term lets takes account of the unique circumstances of island communities and make special provision for them where required.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

The Scottish Government laid legislation to establish a new licensing scheme in November 2021, following careful consideration of responses to our consultation on the draft licensing legislation. The Licensing Order was approved by the Scottish Parliament in January 2022.

The principal component of our licensing scheme is a set of mandatory safety standards which will apply to all short-term lets across Scotland, including those on island communities. Licensing authorities must have a licensing scheme open to receive applications by 1 October 2022, and existing hosts and operators must apply for a licence before 1 April 2023 in order to continue operating. The final deadline for all hosts and operators to have a licence is 1 July 2024.

Additionally, legislation allowing councils to establish short-term let control areas, the Town and Country Planning (Short-term Let Control Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, was approved by the Scottish Parliament came into force in April 2021.

We committed to explore how the rural and island housing fund might be adapted in the future to expand the range of options to support housing development in remote and island communities.

This commitment has been fulfilled.

An extension to the Rural and Island Housing Fund (RHIF) beyond March 2021 with up to £30 million of funding was announced in November 2020. A stakeholder engagement survey provided overwhelming feedback that the fund should continue, and this has already been announced. While there were no suggestions from respondents to expand the range of housing options that the RIHF currently provides that have not been previously considered, the review of RIHF was helpful in informing relevant sections of Housing to 2040 strategy and policy areas that impact rural and island communities that will be taken forward following publication of Housing to 2040.

We committed to continue to provide grants to crofters to build and improve croft houses.

This commitment was fulfilled in 2020. Please see the National Islands Plan Annual Report 2020 for further details.

Since the Croft House Grant scheme was launched in 2007, more than £23 million has been awarded to 1,067 families and individuals in rural and island communities. Approximately half of which has been awarded to island crofters.

Since March 2020 we have awarded over £2 million in grant funding to help build and improve homes for 73 crofters and their families.

We committed to make best use of all housing stock including derelict properties and options for compulsory purchase.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

The statutory housing authority local authorities remain responsible for assessing housing requirements in their areas and setting out in their Local Housing Strategy, housing investment and service delivery requirements. This includes making best use of existing housing stock (i.e. bringing empty homes back into effective use or balancing the negative impacts of second homes) as well as the delivery of new housing.

Tackling empty homes remains a priority for Scottish Government and we continue to fund the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership to work with local authorities, and owners, to return them to productive use. The work of the Partnership has helped to bring more than 6,000 homes back into use since 2010 and we are keen to see this figure continue to grow. Dedicated empty homes officers are fundamental to this approach and we want to see them working across all of our island communities.

We committed to improve access to homes for people looking to settle in, or return to, island communities. In collaboration with local authorities and relevant stakeholders, we will examine the full range of options to do this, making best use of our existing homes and new supply.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

Through Housing to 2040 we committed to take action so that rural and island communities have access to high-quality, affordable and market housing which has been planned alongside the economic and physical infrastructure and helps people to live, work and thrive – and we will help to stem rural depopulation.

Many of the actions in the route map will bring benefits to rural and island communities as well as to urban ones. For example, our plans to:

• extend the use of modern methods of construction;
• to scale up opportunities for self-provided housing;
• to regulate short-term lets;
• to give local authorities powers to manage the numbers of second homes where they see this as a problem in their area; and
• to establish a new fund for local authorities to apply to in order to bring empty homes and potential empty homes back into residential use.

As the statutory housing authority local authorities are responsible for assessing housing requirements in their areas and setting out in their Local Housing Strategy, housing investment and service delivery requirements. This includes making best use of existing housing stock (i.e. bringing empty homes back into effective use or balancing the negative impacts of second homes) as well as the delivery of new housing. Revised Local Housing Strategy guidance was issued in 2019.

Since publication of Housing to 2040, the Scottish Government has made a commitment to develop a Remote, Rural and Islands Housing action plan to meet the housing needs of, and retain and attract people to, those communities.

We committed to ensure that the impact on Gaelic speaking communities is considered as housing policies are developed.

Work is ongoing in relation to this commitment.

It is expected that Local Housing Strategies will evidence how the development of outcomes have been influenced by community engagement and consultation to deliver national priorities, plans and targets, and how the Place Principle is being used to deliver change within communities and achieve desired outcomes.

The Place Principle aims to promote a shared understanding of place, and the need to take a more joined-up, collaborative approach to services and assets within a place to achieve better outcomes for people and communities in which they live. The Place Principle is not prescriptive – rather, it encourages and enables local flexibility in responding to issues and circumstances in different places.