Spotlight on the SHIP that certainly hasn't sailed
By Louise Shearer
I recently noticed a committee report on the Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan – or SHIP for short. In my role, I’m always looking for ‘firsts’ so a section of the report about a new development in King Harald Street that will be the first move to create a ‘Homes for Life’ housing option in Shetland, left me curious to find out more. I went to speak to Executive Manager of Housing, Anita Jamieson, to ask her a few questions about housing development in Shetland.
Reading this latest report, Anita, it feels like a very proactive, innovative approach to housing development – has it always been this way?
We’re in a very different place now because we have a structured strategic framework around housing. Our Housing Needs and Demand Assessment (HNDA) and Local Housing Strategy (LHS) set the priorities and then the SHIP identifies the housing projects we will undertake. Both the HNDA and the LHS have demonstrated a clear need for more affordable housing and you’ll see a number of different options outlined in the report.
We have a good track record for being innovative, overcoming various funding challenges. We’ve also developed positive ways of working with Hjaltland Housing Association to enable continued housing development over the years.
You mentioned the importance of joined up partnership working – can you tell me a bit more about this?
In the report you read, I mentioned a really exciting and interesting project involving two community groups (in Walls and Northmavine) accessing funding from the Rural and Islands Fund (RIF). This is a new fund identified by the Scottish Government to support housing solutions in rural and island areas. Both groups have been helped by the Council to access grant for a feasibility study into housing need at a local area level. Two sites have been identified for possible housing solutions and, subject to the outcome of the feasibility study, a further bid will be made to the fund for projects to deliver housing in these areas.
These particular geographic areas don’t have a record of a high level of demand for social housing but this is more about a taking a community sustainability approach and, because it involves consultants, it’s an independent assessment of need in those areas. The community workers and community councils are also involved.
Our HNDA is a very comprehensive assessment of Shetland’s housing market but it’s not designed to drill down to each specific area so that’s where this new Fund has a role to play. I think it could prompt others to take forward community-based housing solutions.
Can you tell me more about the Knab as a site of opportunity?
There are no decisions yet about the Knab; we’re currently going through a master planning process, asking the community what should go back there.
The HNDA has examined where the gaps are in our housing market and the Knab site is an opportunity to start addressing those.
We’re looking at various sources of evidence to gauge what ought to be built there. For example, we know that the majority of people looking for housing in Lerwick and Bressay already live there and most demand is for smaller-sized households.
We need to consider factors like our ageing population and what we want to achieve from our Ten Year Plan in terms of attracting people to live and work here.
We also have a unique housing market in Shetland in that we don’t really have a well-defined private rented market. It’s quite polarised – people are either in social rented accommodation or are owner-occupiers. There are many who are caught in the middle of those two camps and are stuck. We see the Knab as an opportunity to try to find solutions for those ‘young and stuck’.
For example, if young people want to self-build, where’s the opportunity in Lerwick? There are other examples of assistance to provide affordable housing option that we could be looking at.
The ‘Homes for Life’ concept is definitely an area with potential and, you’re right, King Harald Street will be a first, which could be adopted elsewhere.
What is ‘Homes for Life’?
The proposal is that ten of the King Harald Street flats will have built-in future proofing (and that can be technology) to enable them to meet the needs of people with a disability or people with long term or progressive health conditions so they can be supported to live independently in their own homes without needing to move.
What role has the Place Standard Survey had in driving your development?
The Place Standard Survey was an excellent exercise in that it gave the whole community the opportunity to tell us about the place they live and the priorities for their area. Transport, the economy and housing came out as the top three priorities overall, and, interestingly, in Lerwick housing came out as the number one priority.
We will be using the survey results to support the evidence base I mentioned earlier, to feed into our strategic documents and inform our future development plans.
I read in your committee report that the Council would be keen to develop its own new build programme – what would that involve?
If you go back to February 2014, you’ll recall the agreement that was reached to resolve the Council’s historic housing debt issue. (www.shetland.gov.uk/news-advice/LandmarkagreementonShetlandshousingdebt.asp)
That allowed us to work up our Housing Revenue Account Business Plan, which means we’re now in the position to have a sustainable housing account with a planned investment programme that can be shared with our tenants and that we know what rent increases will be required to fund the account. We initially agreed to focus investment on ensuring our existing properties meet the relevant quality standards before thinking about building new homes and we’ll keep our financial position under review. At some point, we should have some headroom to think about new build and, when we do, it will be done in a planned and measured way.
What difference will the SHIP make?
The SHIP is the delivery plan for our housing strategy – it turns the strategy into real action. I hope the difference it will make is that we will continue to think outside the box when it comes to the challenge of meeting housing demand, realise there are other options out there, alternative solutions to meet housing demand, that could be developed locally. It is an ambitious plan but I’m confident it’s what we need.