We will continue to deliver on the key themes of the Local Housing Strategy
Aiming to increase future affordable housing supply across all tenures by making maximum use of funding streams and working with partner agencies to design and deliver energy efficient, modern homes. We will also meet the needs of people who are facing homelessness and those who need support to maintain their tenancies.
The Local Housing Strategy, covering the period 2022- 2027, was approved on 6 September 2022 and set out 4 key priorities.
- Increasing housing supply and promoting place-making
- Improving house condition, energy efficiency and tackling poverty
- Improving access to specialist housing provision and enabling independent living
- Preventing and alleviating homelessness through housing options, information and support
Our Strategic Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) was approved on 29 November 2023 and covers the period to 2029. The SHIP is a very important document in setting out the priorities for affordable housing investment to be supported by the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP). It contains a commitment to delivering 232 units of housing, including projects currently on-site and not completed, over the next 5 years, and seeks £18.5M of funding support from Scottish Government.
In terms of increasing the supply of housing across Shetland, working together with Hjaltland Housing Association, 62 new units have been completed over the past two years in Sandwick, Gulberwick, Lerwick and Scalloway. A further 28 properties in Lerwick, Scalloway, Brae, Aith and Walls are currently ‘onsite’, with estimated completion dates in 2024.
There are challenges that have to be recognised in this area, however. It is perhaps worth noting that the current Local Housing Strategy identifies a housing supply target of approximately 49 units of affordable accommodation to be added to the housing supply each year for the next ten years. The SHIP proposes 232 units, which is approximately 46 units per annum, so that is slightly below the overall target. It is also lower than in recent years. This is due to the ongoing impact of well-publicised factors such as the aftermath of Covid, EU withdrawal, cost inflation as well as competing demands from other Shetland based projects for the same, limited resource pool.
Whilst our numbers of homeless presentations have been reducing, largely due to our housing options approach to preventing homelessness, the time spent in temporary accommodation prior to being allocated settled accommodation has remained high. This is linked to the challenges of housing supply and availability of suitably sized properties in the areas of demand.